Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1859-12-08
famiIg GJiirtle.
PERPETUAL MOTION.

hrSt description OF macnlne invented pY
Mr.. James G.. Hendrickson. 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 found that
it would go without any impulse from
without and would not stop unless it was
blocked. The power was self-contained
and selfadjusted and gave sufficient
force to carry ordinary clock work with
out any winding up or replenishing. Tn
short, we saw no reason why it would
not go until it was worn out. Our an.
nouncement of the fact brought out a
great deal of ridicule: the incredulous
pointed at all of the projects to obtain a
perpetual motive power which had failed
in the past. and predicted the same dis,
grace to the new invention. Many sci
entifc gentlemen visited it, and although
they could not dispute the fact that it was
" going" they nearly all attributed the
movement to some hidden spring or in
genius trickery. The inventor was an
old man, who had spent his whole life in
pursuit Of the object he had now attained.
He had become so much accustomed to
ridicule, that he was very patient under
it; and the only reply he made to the
cavaliers who pronounced the thing i'm
possible, was" but 1t does 60" The
notice which we printed attracted the
attention of the curious, and for the first
time in his history, the inventor found a
profit in his handiwork. He was invited
to be present at various fairs and exhibit
tons of new inventions, and wherever
he went his machine formed one of the
chief attractions. Science, however.
turned up its nose at him, and determined
to put him down. The professors were
all against him. and as they had pro
nounced the whole thing humbug. they
were determined to prove the truth of
their assertion.
Accordingly, Mr.. Hendrickson was
seized at Keyport, N. j., for practising
"jugglery," under the " Act for suppress.
sing vice and immortality" At the trial !,
several builders, millwrights, engineers
and philosophers were called and testi.
fed positively that no such motive power
as that alledged could drive the machine,
and that there must be some concealed
spring within the wooden cylinder
There was no help for it; and the impos-
ture must be exploded. An axe was
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 go no more. With trembling
hands he again resumed his spectacles
and his Jack knife. His model once more
completed, he had new machine con-
structed of brass, hollow throughout, so
that the eye could examine all its parts.
This was brought to our Office nearly two
years ago, when we noticed it once more
ard gave to our readers some of the facts
we have now recalled.
The inventor was trying to secure a
patent FOR this discovery, but the work
went on slowly. The Patent Office re
quired a working model to test the prin.
ciple, and one was sent on to Washing
ton. The moment the blocks were taken
out, the wheels started off " like thing
of life," and during ten months that the
model remained in the Patent Office, it
never stopped to breathe. The inventor
had perfected two new machines, and
made very comfortable livelihood ex.
hibiting them, prosecuting his efforts
meanwhile to secure his patent, intending
to apply the power to clockwork, for
which in it is peculiarly we'll adapted. -
Age crept upon him, however, before
this point was reached; his highest art
could not make his heart-beatings per.
petual +; and last Saturday afternoon he
breathed his last, in the old homestead
at Freehold. He had been so much per
secuted by the incredulous, that he had
provided secret place beneath the floor
of his shop. where his last two machines
were deposited. 1t was in the form of a
vault covered by trapdoor. which was
locked, and the floor SO replaced as to
avoid suspicion. After his last illness
commenced, he made known this secret
to bis family, who examined the spot
carefully and found the contents exactly
as described. The night after his death
the shop was broken open, the floor taken
up, the trap door pried off, and both
models stolen. 1t is probable that the
family in their visits had not taken the
same precaution as the inventor, and
some prying eyes had discovered the Sc.
|cret. Fortunately, the drawings are pre-
served, and there is 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..
Hendrickson leaves family Of four sons
and four daughters, all Of them we be-
lieye given to inventions. Had he died
ten years ago, how elnphatically would it
have been said that his life has been
wasted in the hopeless effort to obtain
perpetual motion. IN. y. Journal Of