Utah inventions: Prueitt's computer graphics, desalination tank

Utah inventions: Prueitt's computer graphics, desalination tank

(Courtesy of the Prueitt Family)


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Editor's Note: This article is part of the Utah Inventions series, which features inventors and inventions with Utah ties. Tips for future articles can be sent to ncrofts@ksl.com.SALT LAKE CITY — Many of you probably had a big imagination as a child, dreaming up things that seemed impossible. And as you grew up, you forgot those dreams, labeling them as, well, impossible. Not Dr. Melvin Lewis Prueitt.

As a youth, he knew he wanted to be a scientist, and as a young boy he built a radio using various parts and wires. As an adult, he helped revolutionize the field of computer graphics and invented remarkable things — inventions that included convection towers, a desalination tank, the AirWatt power plant, and the Space Catapult. But those are just a few out of many, for he applied for 29 different patents, receiving 21— both national and international.

Unfortunately, not many people shared Prueitt’s vision.

“Many of his inventions were very well thought out, but very few took off to become anything," his daughter, Cynthia Prueitt, said. "His greatest desire was to improve this world.”

Here is a taste of the inventions he hoped would indeed better the world.

Convection Towers

Prueitt’s convection towers not only remove air pollution, but produce power. A group of 12 to 15 convection towers could both power the city of Los Angeles and clean half its daily pollution.

First, the water sprays and evaporates, cooling the polluted air that enters the tower and generates wind. This wind blows through a chimney. Tunnels further down the convection towers have more water sprayers. The spraying water and air flow remove the air pollution.

The flowing air in turn propels the turbines so they make electricity. This electricity pumps the water up into the sprayers.

Desalination Tank

This desalination tank removes the salt from seawater, making it drinkable. Stages of heat transfer, which occur through evaporation and condensation, result in clean, salt-free water. Prueitt believed this invention would help people living in arid, coastal regions.

Space Catapult

In 2011, Prueitt sent NASA a proposal for this invention, in which he explained that “an enormous quantity of materials, equipment, and people can be transferred from earth to space and from space to earth in a short time period and with very little energy required.” The proposal stated that the catapult would significantly decrease the cost of launching spaceships into space, and it would be more practical than a Space Elevator.

Here's how it works. The catapult rotates like a wheel. Tethers are attached to what Prueitt called “Skyhooks” and “Aerobodies” are hooked to the Skyhooks via more tethers. When the Aerobody and Skyhook get close to the atmosphere, the Aerobody can reach a launch pad on the earth or meet up with an aircraft to receive its payload.

Unfortunately, NASA didn’t do anything with the idea.

AirWatt Power Plant

This invention received a little more recognition from NASA than the Space Catapult. In 2010, Dr. Prueitt entered this idea into NASA’s “Create the Future Design Contest,” in the Sustainable Technologies category, and it was given an honorable mention—especially amazing considering that 171 people entered the same category.

The name “AirWatt” was derived from air, water, and then of course, the unit for measuring power: watt.

First, hot air enters the machine, and evaporating water absorbs any excess heat. Then, the warm air gets the refrigerant to its boiling point, and the high-pressure vapor goes through a turbine. From there, the vapor goes to a condenser, and water evaporation makes the vapor condense. The AirWatt gets the condenser’s temperature almost to the dew point.

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This process creates sustainable energy—and more sustainably than solar power plants (which can only work when the sun is out) and convection towers (which need four times more water per megawatt, and energy is required to pump the water to the top.)

Unfortunately, no investors were willing to construct the prototype for the AirWatt.

Who was the man behind all this vision?

The Life of Dr. Melvin Prueitt

Growing up

Prueitt was born outside of Wickes, Arkansas, in October 1932, to Ernest and Bessie Prueitt. While he didn’t grow up in Utah, he later studied physics at Brigham Young University in Provo—off and on from 1952 to 1960 (his education was interrupted due to service on an LDS mission and in the Army).

Prueitt had a hard childhood. One of his few childhood memories is when the Rio Grande flooded their cotton fields while living in Presidio, Texas. It was so muddy, he removed his shoes, and ended up with goat heads (thorns) all over his foot.

Prueitt hardly saw his father, partly because his dad had to work in the oil fields during the Great Depression. One day, when Prueitt was 4 years old, his father came home and hugged Prueitt while he and his brother were playing outside. Melvin Prueitt had no idea who the man was.

Later, the family ended up in Arizona, where he attended high school. Since his mother didn’t like the altitude, she moved to California. So Prueitt and his brother Vernon lived on their own, working their way through high school. For a time, they shared a little shack with two other boys, but they later lived in town.

Dr. Melvin Lewis Prueitt. (Photo: Courtesy of the Prueitt Family)
Dr. Melvin Lewis Prueitt. (Photo: Courtesy of the Prueitt Family)

College years

After completing his LDS mission in the North Eastern states, Prueitt went to visit his brother Leon in New York. After the visit, he went to Grand Central Station. While on the train, a young woman ended up sitting near him after being kicked out of a few seats (which supposedly had been saved). Prueitt later married this young woman, Susi Hufschmid, in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple in 1956. They had four boys and two girls, many of whom went to BYU like their father.

Prueitt received a master’s degree at the University of Arizona in 1962, and a doctorate degree at the University of New Mexico in 1971.

During his college years, Dr. Prueitt did many things. First, he sold pots and pans door-to-door. After graduating from BYU, he worked at the Nevada Testing Center. He then went to Tucson to get his master’s degree at the University of Arizona, and for his thesis, he figured out the temperature of a single stroke of lightning on its return stroke. To calculate this temperature, he used a rotating-drum camera to compute the temperatures of the projecting strokes.

The work field and computer graphics

After receiving his education, Prueitt moved to Los Alamos, where he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 31 years. At this company, he initially developed weapons, which he did not enjoy. While working there full time, he attended the University of New Mexico part time to earn his doctorate in physics.

While working and going to school, he began doing computer graphics, somewhere around the late 1960s or early 1970s. He’d bring his graphics home for his children to color. Eventually, he was able to stop doing weapon development and focus solely on computer work.

Prueitt’s computer work included collaborating with others to improve the methods used for creating graphics. The team also found a way to add color to these graphics. His work helped revolutionize the area of computer graphics, paving the way for animation movies today.

"Butterfly," a computer graphic created by Dr. Melvin Prueitt. (Photo: Courtesy of the Prueitt Family)
"Butterfly," a computer graphic created by Dr. Melvin Prueitt. (Photo: Courtesy of the Prueitt Family)

He was so talented at creating graphics that some of his work was published in magazines like “National Geographic” and “Cray Channels.”

Prueitt’s art was even displayed in the Siggraph Art Show.

But Prueitt didn’t want to keep it all to himself. He wanted to give others the opportunity to create beautiful graphics. So he invented a program called Artistique, which allows you to create graphics via a ray tracer, using images in the database, online, or from your own files.

He not only created works of art, but wrote articles and books, which have been translated into other languages. His books include the following:

  • “Art and the Computer”
  • “Computer Graphics: 118 Computer Generated Designs”
  • “Computer Simulation of Molecular Dynamics”
  • “Curvilinear”
  • “CCL Computer Art Gallery”
Prueitt was quite the accomplished man, despite his hardships. But he was also an accomplished father.

Cynthia Prueitt expressed her deep love and respect for him.

“My dad always wanted to know if I was happy," she said. "He always encouraged us to be . . . nice. I loved going with him on hikes in the mountains, holding his strong and able hand. My father also showed us to be of service to others. Many Saturdays he would be found moving people in and out of their homes, even though it hurt his back at times. . . . He was so intelligent that you never wanted to ask for help on homework, or it could be a long session— especially on math, because he would get into the very details which were way above our heads.”

Prueitt died on Jan. 30, 2016 — a great loss to the world of inventing.


![Katrina Hawkins](http://img.ksl.com/slc/2584/258498/25849802\.jpg?filter=ksl/65x65)
About the Author: Katrina Hawkins \---------------------------------

Katrina Lynn Corbridge Hawkins is a graduate of Brigham Young University, a Utah native, and a freelance writer. You can contact her at katrina.hawkins21@gmail.com.

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