Prometheus Fusion Perfection

In case anyone was wondering, this is the Polywell patent currently in effect:

BussardPatent08

UPDATE: Apparently, this is a patent application not a patent. It was rejected and has not been re-applied for… see comments.

So this is totally unverified, but this comment from chrismb on the polywell talk forum caught my attention:

Bussard’s main claim, generating a point-cusped magnetic field and injecting electrons (thus confined) then ions confined by those electrons, expired on October 29th 2005.

All the patents since that expired one of 1985 (US4826646) are just fiddling around with details, this main core claim has long expired (showing just how long this story has been dragging on).