Thinking about a wood gas generator which can handle large pieces of wood.
Two fireboxes, left side and right side.
No grate, flat surface at the bottom of each firebox.
Small transfer-slot between the two fireboxes at the bottom.
Below each firebox is an ash box, a small exhaust transfer slot is at the outside edge between the firebox and the ash box below it.
Intake air enters at the top of one of the two fireboxes, exhaust exits via one of the two ash boxes.
A set of valves selects which firebox gets intake air and which ash box gets exhaust vacuum.
Intake left, exhaust right makes the left firebox downdraft and the right firebox cross-draft. Green arrow shows this. Obviously inverting the intake and exhaust side swaps the roles.
Freshly added wood goes on the downdraft side, where pre-heated intake air bakes the moisture out of the wood. Steam from the fresh wood transfers to the cross-draft side where hot coals pull oxygen from the air and steam, creating flammable carbon monoxide and hydrogen gasses.
When the cross-draft side burns down to a small bed of coals, the direction of flow is reversed, the cross-draft side becomes the down-draft side, and it can be re-filled with fresh wood.
Two fireboxes, left side and right side.
No grate, flat surface at the bottom of each firebox.
Small transfer-slot between the two fireboxes at the bottom.
Below each firebox is an ash box, a small exhaust transfer slot is at the outside edge between the firebox and the ash box below it.
Intake air enters at the top of one of the two fireboxes, exhaust exits via one of the two ash boxes.
A set of valves selects which firebox gets intake air and which ash box gets exhaust vacuum.
Intake left, exhaust right makes the left firebox downdraft and the right firebox cross-draft. Green arrow shows this. Obviously inverting the intake and exhaust side swaps the roles.
Freshly added wood goes on the downdraft side, where pre-heated intake air bakes the moisture out of the wood. Steam from the fresh wood transfers to the cross-draft side where hot coals pull oxygen from the air and steam, creating flammable carbon monoxide and hydrogen gasses.
When the cross-draft side burns down to a small bed of coals, the direction of flow is reversed, the cross-draft side becomes the down-draft side, and it can be re-filled with fresh wood.
@cjd Interesting. Go get your fortune.
I never really thought of it as making money but I suppose it's possible... It's basically an outdoor wood boiler, which also has an internal combustion engine which generates electricity.
@cjd You can see what's out there. Patent office searches are available now online. It never used to be like that, but it's still an expensive venture like everything else.
Yeah, I've tried playing around with patents, that stuff is SO HARD because everything is worded in an obfuscated way so it can be argued to cover everything, or nothing, depending on whether they want to sue for infringement, or defend the originality of their idea...
@cjd Yes, that is true. I worked as an independent contractor for patent lawyers in DC and VA for years working on applications. It got worse when the Patent Office went for the European model, I'd had enough, lol.
No specific plans at the moment, but would you be open to the idea of doing a few consulting hours in the future?
@cjd Oh, my. I wouldn't even know what I was doing now. It's all International. I've been away from it too long. You can find "Searchers or Agents," instead of attorneys at lower cost to help you. I believe embassies can help, too. A lot has been outsourced to India, lol. 
I see, in any cast thanks for the tip regarding searchers and agents...