Conversion of heat to electricity

Claim 1

A TWO-STAGE SPACE CHARGE NEUTRALIZED THERMIONIC CONVERTER COMPRISING FIRST AND SECOND DISCHARGE CHAMBERS FORMED BY FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD PARALLEL ELECTRODES, SAID FIRST DISCHARGE CHAMBER FORMED BY SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELECTRODES AS THE CATHODE AND ANODE THEREOF AND SAID SECOND DISCHARGE CHAMBER FORMED BY SAID SECOND AND THIRD ELECTRODES AS THE CATHODE AND ANODE THEREOF, MEANS TO APPLY HEAT TO SAID FIRST ELECTRODE, SAID ELECTRODES HAVING PROGRESSIVELY LOWER WORK FUNCTIONS IN THE DIRECTION OF HEAT FLOW, SAID HEAT BEING SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE SUBSTANTIAL THERMIONIC ELECTRON EMISSION FROM BOTH OF SAID CATHODES, SAID SECOND ELECTRODE HAVING A PLURALITY OF UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED BEADS OF ION EMITTING MATERIAL DEPOSITED ON EACH SURFACE THEREOF WHEREBY SAID BEADS EMIT POSITIVE ALKALI IONS FOR NEUTRALIZING SPACE CHARGE, SAID FIRST ELECTRODE HAVING A WORK FUNCTION GREATER THAN THE IONIZATION POTENTIAL OF SAID ALKALI IONS, AND AN ELECTRICAL LOAD DEVICE CONNECTED EXTERNALLY BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND THIRD ELECTRODES.