This reel lawn mower was the type Lisle produced once upon a time
Lisle Auto Tools manufacturing company was started in Clarinda, Iowa in 1903 by C.A. Lisle. The first tool his company manufactured surprisingly wasn’t an automotive tool at all, it was water well drilling equipment powered by a horse! Subsequent products were not automotive related either, remember old ringer washers? And how about the old style manual push mower? Some twenty years after the Lisle Corporation was first started, the tool company made its first automotive product.
Writing this, I had a few 3M products nearby, forgot the post it notes & Velcro.
The 3M company was started in 1902 in Minnesota, at the Lake Superior town of Two Harbors. Five men started out to mine mineral deposits for grinding-wheel abrasives. However, developing the grinding wheel abrasives with these deposits proved to be an unprofitable venture. The newly formed company, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (3M) picked up operations and relocated to Duluth, Minnesota to concentrate their efforts on sandpaper production.
Times were tough for 3M and the newly formed company had difficulty until it could perfect quality production and a distribution chain. A new investor, Lucius Ordway, was instrumental in moving the company to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1910. Due to 3M’s striving to improve their technical and marketing efforts, 3M began to profit in 1916. 3M Products paid its first dividend to it’s investors at a whopping 6 cents a share.
The Internet is littered with seemingly unbelievable claims, like “Run your car on water”. What does this mean? Pour water in my fuel tank? I must admit, until recently I’ve been a skeptic and have attributed all this Internet hype as another scam that only the gullible would fall for. After thinking about it though, all major car manufacturers are developing and testing hydrogen cars today. Most talk of the need for infrastructure providing hydrogen filling capabilities at gas stations. At the time of this post there are only a few filling stations that dispense hydrogen in the US.
Yesterday when talking to a car warranty inspector friend of mine, the subject of hydrogen fuel came up. He was very excited at the prospect of adding a hydrogen generator to his 2008 Honda Civic. He recently downsized from a Honda Accord since his job requires him to drive many miles everyday, he’s always looking for ways to save on gas. The Inspector was like me, he never really listened to all the talk about running your car on water.
After-all if it is too good to be true, it usually is. Besides, we are both Master auto technicians and have heard it all throughout the years. He changed his way of thinking and was now open to the idea. He had been doing warranty inspections at a couple of repair shops and found that there are auto technicians that were running hydrogen generators on their personal vehicles. Now this changes everything, no longer only Internet hype he could actually see the hydrogen rise from the clear containers. The process involves putting an electrical charge in the water which creates electrolysis and this act releases hydrogen gas that rises and can be ran by a tube to the engine’s air intake to be burned along with regular gas. One of the guys at a repair shop he was visiting, said he has increased his Mitsubishi Endeavor’s mileage by 10 mpg. So far he has noticed no drive-ability problems, no check engine light, just increased gas mileage. He theorizes he has no computer problems since he still uses gas to run his car and only supplements the fuel supply with hydrogen. The other mechanic drives an old Chevy pick up with a 454, (without a vehicle computer) he’s using a similar hydrogen generator and has plans to go all Hydrogen. Converting to all hydrogen may prove to be much more difficult but if he succeeds the rewards could be great.
To date, there are no hydrogen generators that are pre-assembled that I have found. There are many plans for sale that may or may not work. The success most likely will depend on the plans and the mechanical ability of the person following the directions and performing the assembly and installation. This can be very dangerous since the hydrogen is obviously flammable. To be very clear I am not endorsing or selling any of the hydrogen generator kits that are available. However, I am considering purchasing a hydrogen generator kit for myself, I will keep you posted. Be sure to check out the video below.
This video shows a Japanese car that runs on water, it has a hydrogen generator in the back seat.
