on both sides. Boynton explained that his difficulties with the church resulted from "the failure of the bank" which he had understood "was instituted by the will & revelations of God, & he had been told that it would never fail." A high council trial disfellowshipped and removed Luke Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and Boynton from the Quorum of the Twelve on September 3, 1837. However, the dissenters, led by Boynton, Warren Parrish, Martin Harris, and Luke Johnson, had a strong local following and took physical control of the Kirtland Temple, the major financial asset of the church. They also sought to control the church organization and led a competing high council which excommunicated Smith and Rigdon, who left the city and fled to Far West, Missouri. In 1838, after Smith had relocated to Missouri, Boynton and other dissident church leaders, including Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and the Johnsons, were excommunicated. Boynton believed Smith to have become a "fallen prophet" and said to Heber C. Kimball, "if you are such a fool as to go at the call of the fallen prophet, Joseph Smith, I will not help you a dime, and if you are cast on Van Diemen's Land, I will not make an effort to help you." Boynton later became a member of Warren Parrish's reformed "Church of Christ", which took possession of the Kirtland Temple. Although he never rejoined the faith, Boynton is reported to have later become less antagonistic toward his former associates. His nephew (son of his sister, Olive Boynton Hale), Alma Helaman Hale, of Grantsville, Utah Territory, reported that Boynton visited Brigham Young (also one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve) during a visit to Utah Territory and counseled Erastus Snow to continue his efforts and involvement with the church. Scientific work After parting ways with the church, Boynton traveled throughout the United States lecturing on natural history, geology, and other sciences. Between 1853 and 1854, he joined a U.S. government geological surveying expedition to California. During the American Civil War, Boynton was employed by the U.S. to design torpedoes and other weapons. He holds 36 patents in the U.S. National Patent Office. Boynton patented: A process to generate carbonic acid gas A soda fountain A portable fire extinguisher A vacuum process for extracting gold from ore Several small electrical appliances A process for converting cast iron to malleable steel