Although all the manufacturers make general statements about the origin of their products, detailed public information is only available in the two patents relating to CellCore.
Bear in mind that the purpose of a patent is solely to confer certain exclusive rights to an inventor. It must provide enough detail to establish the uniqueness of the invention and to help differentiate it from others that might be intended to accomplish the same end, but it should not be a recipe for its replication. For this reason, patents are not ordinarily written in a way that is very informative; the art of creating a document that is simultaneously detailed and obfuscating is a very specialized and highly developed craft.
The other thing to remember is that the sole requirement for a U.S. patent is that an invention be novel. It need not actually work, and its issuance does not imply that it even can work.
For more patent absurdities, see the index at
Wacky Patents and Wacky Gadgets.
I am aware of at least three U.S. patents on water products described as "clustered". The earliest one was issued to Hiroshi Tachibana in 1993, while the two more recent ones are to Lee Lorenzen, a self-described "scientist" and founder of now-thankfully-disappeared CellCore. (There are also a large number of Japanese patents on various similarly wonky waters, which are apparently quite popular in that country.)
Interestingly, all three seem to involve the scientifically dubious idea of exposing water to a magnetic field and irradiating it with light. U.S. Patent 5,247,179 assigned to Tachibana describes an electronic device for simulating the Chinese "Ki" which is radiated (as "far-infrared", i.e., heat) from the hands of a special person called a "Kikoshi who has an ability of generating the above specific electromagnetic wave in nature or by skill." According to the patent, "the cluster of the water can be enlarged by the irradiation of the magnetic force to the water. For example, the cluster as a group of about five molecules of water is changed into a large cluster as a group of tens of molecules of water."
Here are some excerpts from Lorenzen's United States Patent 5,711,950. Those parts of the patent text which I consider unfounded, misleading, or scientifically absurd are indicated by highlighting.
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"A method for preparing microclustered water comprising boiling water to produce steam includes passing the steam across a magnetic field1, exposing the steam to light having a wavelength of between 610 nm and 1 mm2, condensing the steam at a temperature greater than 0.degree. C., adding at least one stabilizer comprising a metasilicate salt to the condensed steam, adding yeast cells or an antiviral pharmaceutical agent at a concentration of 1% or less to the condensed steam3, exposing the condensed steam to a pressure greater than one atmosphere, and depressurizing the condensed steam.4 The method is useful in the preparation of medicaments, catalysts, agricultural products and other products."5 |
1 Water is diamagnetic and should not (according to us non-alchemists) be affected in any significant way by a magnetic field; 2 More jiggery-pokery; water cannot absorb (or be affected by ) 610-nm (red) light. 3 the "condensed steam" is presumably nothing more than ordinary distilled water containing the added impurity. 4 See below. 5 No credible scientific evidence is adduced to show that the efficacy of these products is improved by the process described here. |
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"After addition of template and stabilizer, the mixture is pressurized to a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere. Where the template has medicinal activity, the resulting microclustered water1 can be administered in therapeutic doses to a living organism, such as tiny organisms, humans and animals, to treat a particular abnormal state. For example, where the template is aloe vera and vitamin E, the treated water can be used to treat burns. Where the template is an opiate peptide, the treated water can be administered to treat pain. Individuals having viral infections can be medicated by water treated with a yeast culture, such as yeast cells from the Caucasus Mountains of Soviet Georgia, or an antiviral pharmaceutical agent. Where the template is chromium ions, treated water can reduce the need for insulin in a person having adult onset diabetes."2 |
So the idea is that "templates" having special properties are added to the water, which is then placed under pressure so as to impress the form of the template onto the water, and thus supposedly, its medicinal properties, on the water, which retains it as a kind of memory. 1 Most chemists will maintain that ordinary thermal motions in the liquid will erase any such memory in nanoseconds. Any credible evidence to the contrary would be of immense scientific interest. 2 Yes, the water can be given for all such purposes, but there is no credible evidence that any of these benefits can be realized. |
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"Likewise, where the template is coal tar, the template treated water can be used as a gasoline additive to reduce hydrocarbon emissions." |
Might as well throw this in for good measure; is anyone selling "clustered gasoline"? As it happens, the |
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"A method for preparing microclustered water. First, the starting water is boiled to produce steam. Next, the steam is passed across a magnetic field, and the steam is condensed at a temperature greater than 0.degree. C. in the presence of light in the far infra-red to ultraviolet spectrum range1 to produce condensed steam2." [The above is quoted from the Abstract; see the patent itself for more detail.] |
1 The wavelength of the light is now less restrictive, but not by much: the patent says "the more preferred spectrum is between 610 nanometers (nm) and 1 millimeter (mm). For many applications the most preferred wavelength is 640 nm. " Actually, it doesn't matter what shade of red light is used; none of it gets absorbed anyway! 2 "Condensed steam" remains a nice euphemism for "liquid water". |
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At least one metasilicate salt stabilizer and a dietary supplement template are added to the condensed steam. The concentration of dietary supplement template is 1% or less. The condensed steam is exposed to a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere; and then depressurized to produce the microclustered water. The concentration of the template to be added is a function of molecular weight, water solubility, and the result sought to be obtained. However, generally, the template will be added in a concentration of 1% or less. |
Metasilicates are solids in which {SiO4} tetrahedra are condensed into chains or rings built up of SiO32– anions. Hundreds of metasilicates are known, many of them as common minerals. The patent states that the stabilizer concentration is usually around 3-4 ppm. |
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After addition of template and stabilizer, the mixture is pressurized to a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere. Where the template has medicinal activity, the resulting microclustered water can be administered in therapeutic doses to a living organism, such as tiny organisms, humans and animals, to treat a particular abnormal state. For example, where the template is aloe vera and vitamin E, the treated water can be used to treat burns. Where the template is an opiate peptide, the treated water can be administered to treat pain. Individuals having viral infections can be medicated by water treated with a yeast culture, such as yeast cells from the Caucasus Mountains of Soviet Georgia or an antiviral pharmaceutical agent. Where the template is chromium ions, treated water can reduce the need for insulin in a person having adult onset diabetes. Other therapeutic template materials include, but are not limited to, Co-Enzyme Q, vitamin C, vitamin E, bee propolis and beta carotene. |
The idea that the biological activity of a substance can be stored in water through an impression created by a "template" is of course the basis of homeopathy which, although widely popular, is still unfounded pseudoscience. |
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The mixture of microclustered water is usually diluted from 103 to 1020 times. This dilution is required because generally the microclustered water obtained is too concentrated to be used appropriately.1 In some cases, higher doses may either be harmful or less effective than lower concentrations of the same templated microclustered water.2 Thus, in order to determine optimal dilution for therapeutic applications, a magnetic resonance analyzer can be used.3 |
1 The higher dilutions are similar to those used in homeopathy, and ensure that what you are getting is essentially pure distilled water.
2 No evidence is presented to support this statement. 3The patent helpfully (and incorrectly) tells us that "A magnetic resonance analyzer (MRA) measures a response similar to conventional galvanic skin response; however an MRA is much more sensitive. The MRA detects a wave pattern emitted by the body which is calculated as a galvanic skin response at very high frequencies." The figure they mention is 100 gigahertz. Only a chemist will appreciate the humor of all this! |
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The template realigns the molecular structure of the microclustered water so that the resulting water provides beneficial resonant frequencies.1 The resultant resonancy frequencies are predictable depending upon the template material used. Template treated water samples can be tested by conventional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. I have found that 17O NMR provides a good indication of the microclustering of the water. Using 17O NMR, resonance frequencies of the template treated end products range from 25 to 140 hertz (Hz) and more. However, generally these products have resonance frequencies in the range 45 to 75 Hz. These frequencies are significantly different than the resonance frequencies measured of starting water. The resonance frequency of tap water is generally measured at 140 Hz, while the resonance frequency of distilled water is 130 Hz, and the resonance frequency of triple distilled water is 115 Hz. Even without template treatment, the microclustered water of the present invention has a resonance frequency significantly lower than highly purified triple distilled starting water. Microclustered water stably producing resonance frequencies as low as 25 Hz can be produced by the methods described herein.2 |
1 There is no credible scientific evidence for this; the reference to "beneficial resonant frequencies" is nonsense.
2 NMR measures small changes in the energies of odd-proton nuclei having opposite spins when they are placed in a magnetic field. These energy difference are affected by nearby atoms, and are thus useful tools for studying the structure and bonding of substances. However, the energy difference, measured in Hz, also depends on the strength of the field, so expressing these results in absolute rather than in relative terms tells us very little. It is worth noting that extensive use has been made of NMR by scientists trying to elucidate the structure of water— there are hundreds of papers on this subject in the scientific literature, but nobody has found anything like what is claimed here! |
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" [The microclustered water...] has a conductivity of at least 3.7 .mu.s/cm, and has a surface tension of less than 61 dynes/cm. |
The body of the patent contains a table giving the values of these quantities for various templates. All meaningless. Why these particular physical parameters are considered significant is a mystery. The only thing they reveal is that the water is not pure. |
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