Inventions and Inventors Volume 1 - Online Public Access Catalog

can corporation, sent a representative to England to offer employment
in the United States to senior members of Bacon’s staff. Three scientists
accepted the offer.
A high point in Bacon’s career was the announcement that the
American Pratt and Whitney Aircraft company had obtained an order
to build fuel cells for the Apollo project, which ultimately put
two men on the Moon in 1969. Toward the end of his career in 1978,
Bacon hoped that commercial applications for his fuel cells would
be found.
Impact
H 2
- +
Electrolyte
Porous
Electrodes
Anode Cathode
Parts of a basic fuel cell
Fuel cell / 357
Because they are lighter and more efficient than batteries, fuel
cells have proved to be useful in the space program. Beginning with
the Gemini 5 spacecraft, alkaline fuel cells (in which a water solution
of potassium hydroxide, a basic, or alkaline, chemical, is placed)
have been used for more than ten thousand hours in space. The fuel
cells used aboard the space shuttle deliver the same amount of power
as batteries weighing ten times as much. On a typical seven-day
mission, the shuttle’s fuel cells consume 680 kilograms (1,500 pounds)
of hydrogen and generate 719 liters (190 gallons) of water that can
be used for drinking.
Major technical and economic problems must be overcome in order
to design fuel cells for practical applications, but some important
advancements have been made. Afew test vehicles that use fuel
O 2