Homemade gas saver causes bomb scare

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A a contraption made of three separate bundles strapped to the front of a truck parked on Main Street in front of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse Thursday prompted calls to police.  

But when they got there, what police discovered was not a bomb but a homemade gas-saving device.

Lafayette Police Officer Will Carpenter said, "We get there, and of course it's six Mason jars strapped to the front of the truck with tubes and wires coming out of it."

Carpenter said police quickly determined there was no threat. 

"It was part of the fuel system," said Carpenter. "Another officer arrived and said that, yeah, he was pretty sure that it was part of the fuel system.  As a precaution, we called the Tippecanoe County Bomb Squad. A couple members showed up and they confirmed that it was part of the fuel system, that it was a homemade hydrogen generator."

Carpenter made contact with the truck's owner, and learned it was one of three vehicles the man is using the system on. 

"He's adamant that it works, and has saved him five miles a gallon," Carpenter said.