Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-02-04
Perpetual Motion.
The Journal of Commerce SAYS


/ Some OF our readers will remember q
humorous description perpetual motion"
machine, which was published in our col.
umns nearly four years since, and went
the rounds of the papaers. The machine
was invented by Mr.. James G. Hendrick-
son, of Freehol5,: Monmouth county. New
Jersey. The power was very slight, being
obtained by the use Of arms and balls al.
tached to a cylinder, and SO contrived to
keep the extra weight always one side, and
give the cylinder constant inclination to
turn round. Mr.. Hendrickson was a very
plain countryman, who had whitfield away
for 40 years at this machine, amid the jeers
and SCOTS of neighbors and aquaintances,
and who was of course not little proud of
his success. Ours was the first public no
tice of his invention, but it soon attracted
the attention of the curious, and be was in
vited to exhibit it at Raritan, N. J. The
occasion, if we remember right, was a
large gathering Of people during the pro-
gress of the Agricultural Fair. The in
credulity of his own countrymen, howev.
er, was more than match for him. He
was surrounded by set of people who
contended that the motion he claimed, was
an impossibility, and that he was an i'm
poster. Poor Hendrickson was no orator,
and his assailants were clamorous and loud
spoken, but he pointed silently to his ma.
chine, which was enclosed in glass, and
when the philosophers said that his claim
was ridiculous, and that machine could
not Ego of ITSELF" he could only reply, "But
it does go" One would have supposed
that the fact should have been sufficient to
upset the old theory, but the Jersey Blues
were as stubborn as the noted disputans
whose speech upon such an occasion, ESQ
much the worse for the facts,") is now IA
nous in history, and they clung to their
theory, in the face of the demonstration
They went farther, and in spitit of perse-
cution as bitter as that which moved the
Jesuits against Galileo, arrested Mr.. Hen
Erickson for t,ickery and Juggling, under
the Act for suppressing vice and immoral
ity, charging him with moving his machine
by a concealed spring! He was accord
ingly tried for this offence before Justice
Bodle, of Keyport. Mechanics, engineers,
ship-wrghts, and all the experts and NAL
content philosophers of that part of Jersey,
gave testimony as to the impossibility Of
such an invention as be claimed, and their
belief that a hidden spring, or some piece
of ingenious roguery, was contained in the
cylinder. At last the axe was applied, and
the machine split in pieces, when 10. there
was no concealed spring-no roguery-and
the machine, despite the philosophers,.6
"gone of ITSELF" The men of sience gulped
down their disappointment, and disappear
ed from the court room, and poor Her.
Erickson and the fragments of his machine
were kindly discharged, with the verdict
'.no cause of action" The scene, when be
returned to mis- home that night with the
broken relics of his discovery in his hands,
and sat gazing upon them in sad disap-
pointment, must have been worthy of the
canvas of a master painter.
Since that trial we had lost sight of him;
but, two or three days ago he came into
the office with the same patient, thought-
full face, and holding in his hand the old
invention In new dress. He has made it
this time of brass ribs, SO that there is no.
thing concealed and no place for conceal
ment; and il spite of the Jersey persecu-
tors, it acM goI He has attached to it q
simple clock, and this machine furnishes
the motive power. How far this power
can be extended, it is not for US to say;
but we must believe our eyes, and we once
more assert that the machine will ego Of
itself"