Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-01-29

L ne new ork- journal OF Commerce, q
/ paper not given to credulity lately published
the following interesting account of a per-
petuaI motion:
Some of our readers will remember a
humorous description of a perpetual notion
machine which was published in our COL
umns nearly four years since, and went the
rounds of the papers. The machine was
invented by Mr.. James G. Hendrckson of
Freehold, Monmouth county, N. J. The
power was very slight, being obtained by
the use of arms and balls attached to "a CYL
inder, and so contrived as to keep the extra
weight always one side, and give the cEiin-
der constant inclination to turn round.
Mr.. Hendrckson was very plain country
man, who had whitfield away for 40 years at
this machine, amid the jeers and scoffs of
neighbers and acquaintances, and who was
of course not little proud of his success.
Ours was the first public notice of his in
vention, but it soon attracted thas attention
of the curious, and he was invited to exhibit
it at Raritan, N. : The occasion, if we
remember right, was large gathering of
people during the progress of an Agricultu-
raj Fair.
!" The Incredibly of his own countrymen,
however, was more than match for him.
He was surrounded by SIT of people who
contended that the motion he claimed was
impossi biLfcY, and that he was an impos-
tor. Poor Hendrickson was no orator, and
his .assailants were clamorous and LOUD
spoken, but he pointed silently to his ma
Cline, which was enclosed in glass, and
when the philosophers said that his claim
was ridiculous, and that machine could not
go of ITSELF he could only reply, ' But it
docs g. :" One would have supposed that
the fact should have been sufficient to upset
the old theory, but the Jersey Blues were as
stubborn the noted disputant whose
speech upon such an occasion, '' so much
the worse for the facts,'' is now famous in
history, and they clung to their theory, in
the face of the demonstration. They went
farther, and in spirit of persecution as
bitter as that which moved the Jesuits
| aguinst Galileo, arrested Mr.. Hendrickson
for trickery and juggling, under the act for
suPpressing vice and immortality, charging
! him with moving his machine by concealed
| spring He was accordingly tried for this
offence before Justice Bodle, of Keyport
! Mechanics, engineers, shipwrghts, and all
the expert and malcontent philosophers OF
that part of Jersey, gave testimony to
the imposslbity of such an invention as he
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 lo there was no concealed spring-no
roguery-and the machine, despite the phi
iosophers. had gone of ITSELF The men
of science guIped down their disappoiDt-
ment, and disappeared from the court room,
and poor Hendrickson and the fragments OF
his machine were kindly discharged, with
the verdict no cause of action.' The
scene, when he returned to his home that
night with the broken relics of his discovery
in his hands, and sat gazing upon them in
sad disappointing must have been worthy
of the canvas OF 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.
thoughtful 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
nothing concealed and place for conceal
ment; and in spite of the Jersey prosecutors
IL WiH 90! He has attached TO it sim
pie clock, and this machine furnishes the
motive power. How far this power can be
extended, it is not for US 10 say; but we
must believe our eyes, and we onae m IRE
assert that the machine will go of ITSELF >