Gloucester resident Frank Driver received a patent pending designation Monday on an invention he has been working on for over two years to help conserve energy. 

The invention, which Driver calls a Force Controlled Drive, is a method of using leverage, gear ratio and a downward force to rotate a flywheel on an axle to produce power that in turn produces electricity or pumps liquid.

“It basically generates power more efficiently than solar power or windmills,” Driver said. He explained that where it would take 26 solar panels to produce 135 watts of energy for 8-10 hours, this invention would supply a similar amount of energy for 24 hours. 

Driver developed his first model of the invention in July 2014 and said he has been improving upon it ever since.

He initially came up with the idea when he was helping a homeless man by letting him stay in his camper. “I was trying to figure out how to charge the batteries in the camper because he couldn’t affor...