Stretching the truth?

Matt Hannifin likes to drop intriguing details about his merchandise to customers at Science Toy Magic. The H-racer was a perfect candidate.

In November, Time magazine declared the toy race car one of the best inventions of 2006 because it runs on a fuel cell, achieving "what Detroit still can't" do with automobiles for adults at an affordable price.

And one day, Robert Hockaday of Los Alamos told him that Horizon, the manufacturer of the toy in China, used his fuel cell technology to power the new product, which also comes with a fueling station.

Hannifin, in turn, spread the word. "Robert Hockaday is the designer of the fuel cell that is in the car," he told customers in December. On a wall in his shop, he even displayed Hockaday's photograph next to the Time write-up -- which made no mention of Hockaday.

But there was a problem with that feel-good story: It stretched the truth.

When reached by phone, Hockaday said his company played a small role in creating the H-racer. He spent a week in Shanghai last December working with Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, he said.

"I licensed the fuel cell technology to them," Hockaday said.

But the simple, single fuel cell in the toy "doesn't particularly use much of our license," he added.

"I'm not saying it uses really sophisticated stuff in that fuel cell," he said. "But the hope is that we will advance, and we will make some more sophisticated little fuel cells in these cars. And so they're one of my licensees, and they're making cars."

It seemed to be a longawaited victory. As a 50-year-old inventor with eight fuel-cell patents to his name, Hockaday had finally produced a marketable product.

"It's the first time my technology has even shown up in a product," he said. "This is where you can buy your first, fuel-cell powered car -- and it's affordable."

But according to the manufacturer in China, Hockaday had no part in developing the toy race car or its fueling station; he's only promoting it and other Horizon products in New Mexico.

"Bob did come to Shanghai to discuss methanol fuel cell development opportunities, but did not help designers in Shanghai figure out how to put the cells in the H-racer. I was the lead designer on this project actually," wrote Taras Wankewycz, vice president of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, by e-mail. "The fuel cells and their systems were developed entirely by Horizon. They are PEM fuel cells; this is different technology from methanol fuel cells."

Horizon described Hockaday as an avid supporter of the H-racer.

When confronted with this differing account, Hockaday said, "It's not sophisticated enough to need anything that's in my patent. I was just there to help them if I could."

Hockaday said he and Horizon's designers did play around with different fueling options, but Horizon stuck with its own approach in the end. "It does not use my patents," he clarified.

Befuddled by the experience, Hannifin of Science Toy Magic decided to remove the scientist's photograph from his shop and stop touting Hockaday's connection to the H-racer.