I have culled some significant dates from the document I now have in hand.
The first experimental farnsworth fusor was tested on October 8 1960 and used electron multipacting in a device that had a positive center electrode and negative exterior electrode. Neutrons were produced on this intial run, but no data was taken due to the instruments being swamped by the self oscillatory nature of the device creating vast noise outputs at high powers.
It was not until mid-1963 that the polarity was reversed and ion multipacting was tried. (the machine we know today)
The absolute best variant of the new fusor designs in late 1963 using only D-D fusion produced no more than one million (10e6) neutrons per second.
It was in February of 1964 that the highest numbers were obtained to that date without the presence of Bob Hirsch. This was also the first D-T tested device. It produced about one billion (10e9) neutrons/second.
Bob Hirsch arrived during the summer of 1964. Hirsch quickly designed devices which produced devices producing 10e10 n/sec and ultimately in spring of 1967 demonstrated a portable fusor in Washington, DC to the assembled AEC fusion leaders. It produced 10e5 n/sec at reduced power to the amazement of all assembled.
Farnsowrth and Hirsch never really saw eye-to-eye on many matters though each respected the other's views. Each was a different personality. Ultimately, Farnsworth would start dringking heavily and by mid 1966 no longer reported to work and in Nov 1966 was medically retired from ITT, leaving Robert Hirsch as the head of the Fort Wayner effort.
With more questions than answers, the AEC sent Hirsch back to do more research, but ITT had lost interest in the program and let the funding for 1967 trikle out without renewing it for fiscal year 1968. Thus, the program died in June of 1968.
Richard Hull
Created on Friday, June 01, 2001 10:11 AM EDT by Richard Hull