Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1859-11-29
PCEEt@tss;si HEStiGN.

Fhe following account Of an invention
for securing Te petuai naotisn is SO well
authenticated thar We regard it as worthy
Of Insertion. II there is fallacy in it, it
Is hoped the Scientific American" which
exposes SO many tallaces, will point il
our.
Abput six years ago, We published the
frs, description OF machine invented by
Mr.. James G. Hendrickson, o. Freehold,
New Jersey, "to go of itself" a model,
which Mr. Hendrickson had made after
patient whiting for forty years, was
brought into our office, and we touE0 that
it would go without any impulse from
wi,houy, and would not stop unless it was
borked. The power was selt-conained
and self-adiused, and gave sufficient
lorce to carry ordinary clock work without
any winding up or leplenshing, In short,
We saw no reason why it would not go un
I'll 1t WAS WON out. Our announcement
of the tacl brought out great deal of rldi-
cule; he n",edu|ous pointed Al all of the
projects to ob ain perpetual motive power
which had tailed in lhe past, and predicted
the same disgrace for the new invention
Many scientific gentlemen visited it, md
although they could moi dispute the fact
tha; Ii was gong" they nearly all attrib-
uted tie movement to some hidden
.spriug. or ingenious 'rickely The inven-
tor was an old man, who had spent his
whole hie IN pursuit Of he object he. lad
now attained. He had become SO much
accustomed TO ridicule, lhal he was very
pa leut under iI;aand the only reply he
made to the caviiers who pronounced the
| hing impossible, was--"Bat ii does gol'
| The notice which we printed attracted The
attention OF the curious, and for the frs
time IN his history. the inventor found 8
profit in his handiwork. lie was invited
TO be present at various fairs and exhibi
lions Of new inventions, and wherever he
went. his machine formed one of the chic
lis nose al him. and determined tospul hin
down The professors were all agains
him. and as they had pronounced III,
whole thing humbug, they were deter
mined to prove he truth of their assertion
Accordingly, Mr.. Hendrickson was seizec
a, Keypolb New Jersey. lor practising
''juggery," under the "Act for suppress
,ng vice and immortality" At the trial
several builders. mill,rights, engineers ant
philosophers, were called, who testifec
positively that no such motive power al
that alleged, could drive the machine, anc
thai ,here must be some concealed spring
within the wooden cylinder. There was
no help tor .iG andthe imposlure must b.
exploded at all and every risk. An AK
WAS brought, and the cylinder splinlereo
into fragments. Alas! for The philoso
piers there was no concealed spring, anC
The machine Ind gone of ITSELF Bul AIS
also, tor poor Hendrickson, the machine
], would 20 no more With trembling hands
he again resumed his spectacles and hil
jack knife. His model once more compile
! ted, be had new machine constructed o
brass, hollow throughout so that the ey'
could examine all its parts. This wal
brought to our Office nearly two years ago
l when we noticed it once more, and give to
our readers some of the facts we have nov
recalled The inventor was trying to Sc
cure patent for this discovery, bui th'
work went on slowly. The Patent Offic