Space Crawler

In 1999, the U.S. Patent Office awarded a patent to a propulsion device that is a base frame with a sliding carriage on the frame and two counter rotating masses that together couple and decouple to the base frame to move the carriage forward and backward in a complicated motion. An onboard battery provides the energy for all internal movement. When the rotating masses are not coupled to the frame, and when placed on a nearly frictionless air table, the whole device simply oscillates forward and back repeatedly, as expected. When the coupling is allowed to occur at specific phases in their rotational cycle, the whole device moves only forward in a continual sequence of spurts that are longer with less air table friction! Will this device operate likewise in space?

Answer

The U.S. Patent Office awarded patent 5966986 in 1999 to this propulsion device. We quote the patent abstract:

A propulsion system which is designed to be used on a payload platform such as a spacecraft, satellite, aircraft, or an ocean vessel. To operate the system electrical power is required. However, during operation the system does not require fuel or other mass be expelled into the environment to move in space. The system is designed to operate in two operational modes: in Mode I the system incrementally moves the payload platform forward with each operational cycle. In this first mode, the velocity imparted to the payload platform is not additive. In Mode II the payload platform accelerates forward a discrete increment of velocity during each operational cycle. In this second mode the increments of velocity are additive.

There is no problem with energy conservation because the onboard battery supplies the energy. The inventor Virgil Laul claims that this propulsion device when attached to spacecraft will be able to propel spacecraft out in space. We leave this problem as a final challenge. What is the physics here? Are any conservation laws violated? Will the device work in space as well as it does on the air table?