TODAY, with gasoline scarce along the Atlantic coast, certain U. S. naval officers remember with regret a mysterious inventor who turned up during the last war and said he was able TO MAKE GASOLINE OUT OF WATER.
THE STORY SEEMS LIKE A MYTH. BUT IT IS RECORDED IN THE C. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS AND THE’ NAVY IN 1916 “‘AS SO CONVINCED THAT GASOLINE COULD
BE MADE OUT OF WATER THAT IT WAS WILLING TO PAY $2,000000 FOR THE PROCESS.
But suddenly, the inventor, a man from St. Paul, Minnesota, disappeared. The navy has never been able to find him since. The official version, as written down by Capt. E. P. Jessop, then senior engineering officer at the New York navy yard, records that a St. Paul man named T.J. Strupp came to the engineering laboratory of the New York navy yard where he poured water from a navy bucket into the fuel tank ot a navy motor boat engine, then
took a small phial from his pocket and dropped 6 or 7 drops of a greenish fluid into the tank. Then he said, “Start the engine.”
The inventor had not examined the engine or altered it in any way. It sputtered a bit at first, then settled down to work and consumed every drop of fuel in the tank, developing 75 per cent of its rated horsepower. “By this time,” writes Captain Jessop, “We were in a state of mind hard to describe. We had seen a gas engine assimilate a great percentage of water In its fuel, when all our experience had proved that a very small percentage of water in the fuel would make the engine refuse duty; and the simplicity of Strupp’s equipment seemed to make it impossible for him to have deceived us.”
Next day, the experiment was repeated with salt water. This time, to make sure there was no deception, the mixture was made in a room entirely bare of furniture. Again the inventor, poured water into the gasoline tank, mixed a. few drops of green liquid It settled with it, the engine started and did not even sputter. down at once, developing 75 per cent of its rated horsepower. Inventor Strupp teas taken to Washington for a demonstration before the navy’s bureau of engineering. It was so convincing that the navy asked to buy his invention. The price asked was $2,000,000. The navy countered by offering to put $2,000,000 in the bank in escrow, the money to be paid when he had taught 10 naval experts to mix the fuel. Strupp refused the offer, saying he wanted cash. This made the navy skeptical. They hesitated, and a day or two later the inventor disappeared. He has never been heard of since.
“Personally,” concludes Captain Jessop, “I believe that T.J. Strupp had a very valuable secret, and it is a pity some way could not be worked out to satisfy his requirements.
The Annapolis Messenger- February 29th, 1941