He claimed his invention would power a vehicle from NY to LA with 22 gallons of water.
During the energy crisis in the 70s there were many stories like this. Also many stories that all the amazing energy patents were being bought up by the energy companies to quash them.
The idea behind a patent is that the inventor (or owner) has a monopoly for a fixed period of time (possibly 20 years), and then the invention enters the public domain. By now all the energy patents from the 70s would be in the public domain - available for anyone to use the technology. We also have something never dreamed of by those who would buy and bury these patents. We have the internet and search engines that can find these obscure patents buried in the archives.
Good luck at finding them. Seriously, the world can benefit from any of these long-lost technologies we can find.
nacl