The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-11-19
Brsr the Sev fsrk Journal 81 Commerce.
Perpetual Motion.

About six year. ago We published the
first description OF machine invented 10y
Nr James q. Uendrickson, Freehold. y.
j., 10 go of itself 4 model which Mr..
Hendrickson had made after patient whit
thing for forty years, wa. brought into our
office and We found that it would 90 with
out any impulse from without and would
not stop unless il was bloc ked The pow
er was self-con,inuGl and selfadi iustej. and
gave a sufficient force TO carry ordinary
clock-work without any winding up or re-
plenishing. In short We saw no reason
Why il would not go unit, il was worn out.
a great ueaI -, rIuIcuIG. the fncreGuIous
pointed at all OF the projects 10 obtain per
petual motive power which had failed IN
the past and predicted the same disgrace
to the new invention. Many scientific
gentlemen visited it, and although shey
could not dispute the fact that it was " go
ing" they nearly all attributed the move
ment to some hidden spring or ingenious
trickery. The inventor was an old man,
who had spent his whole life in the pur.
suit of the object he had now attained
He had become so much accustomed to
ridicule, shat he was very patient under
it; and the only reply he made to the cav
illers who pronounced the thing impo.si
bic was" b,d II does 90 r. The notice
which We printed attracted the attention
of the curious. and for the first time in
his history, the inventor found profit in
his handiwork He was invited to be
preset At various fairs and exhibitions of
new inventions, and wherever he went his
machine formed one Of the chief attract
ions.
Science, however turned up his nose at
him. and determined to put him down
The professors were all against him, and
a. they had all pronounced the thing
humbug, they were determined to prove
the truth Of their assertion. Accordingly,
Mr. Hendrickson was seized at keyport,
y. j., for practising ''jugglery, under the
I" Act for suppIessing vice and ImmortalI-
ty" At the trial, several builders, mill
wrights, engineers. and philosophers were
called, and testified positively that no such
motive power as that alleged could drive
the machine, and that there must be some
concealed spring within the wooden cylin-
der There was no help for it; and the
imposture must be exploded An naxewas
brought, and the cylinder splintered into
fragments Alas for the philosophers,
there was no concealed spring, and the
machine had gone Of ITSELF But alas, also,
for poor HendrIckson, the machine would
80 no more With trembling hands he
again resumed his spectacles and his jack
knife. His model once more completed,
he had a new machine constructed OF brass,
hollow throughout, SO that the eye could
examine all its parts This WAS brought
to our office nearly two years ago, when
VIC noticed it once more. and gave to our
readers some of the facts we have now re-
called The inventor was trying to secure
Q patent for the discovery. but the work
went ou slowly The Patent office requir
ed q working model to test the principle,
and one was sent on to Washington. The
moment the blocks were taken out, the
| wheels started of like thing OF life,
and during ten months that the model
remeined in the Patent Office, 1t never
once stopped to breathe. The inventor
had perfected two new machines, ana
made Q very comfortable livelihood ex-
hibiting them, prosecuting his efforts
meanwhile to secure his patent, intending
to apply the power to clock-wor Tor
which it is peculiorly adapted. Age crept
reached; his highest art could not make
his heartbeatings perpetual and last Sat
urday he breathed his last, in the old
homestead at Freehold He had been 90
much persecuted by the incredulous, that
he had provided a secret place beneath
the floor of his shop where his two last
| machines were deposited. 1t was in the
| form of a vault covered by trap door,
| which was locked, and the floor so replac-
ed rs to avoid suspicion. After his last Ill
ness commenced, he made known the Sc
cret to his family, who examined the spot
| carefully and found the contents exactly
as described. The night after his death
| the shop was broken open, the trap'door
pried open, and both models stolen Is Is :
| probable that the family in their visits had
not taken the same precaution as the in
yentor and some prying eyes had discover.
ed the secret Fortunately, the drawings
are preserved, and there is a little machine,
one of the earliest made, now running in
Brooklyn, where it has kept up its cease
less ticking for nearly six years. Mr. Hen,
drickson leaves . family of four sons and
four duuehters, all of them, we believe.
siven to inventions. Had he died ten
years ago, how emphaticslly would it have
been seid that his life has been wasted In
"ths hopeless effort to obtain perpetual
yoA&io0 fif Ee- -