Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1870-10-12
mistsllaneous RtaSins.
PERPETUAL MOTION AT LAST.
A Chicago Youth lnyents Machine that
has Supplied its Own Motive Power for
Seven Months. -i .....'-. ...4rt ,.r

freM me Ehtcd5e LTiounf.4I 'rHH ..f.fi J. $50
We always knew that Chicago would
do it. hat all the, world has been try
ing to do since time began, only to fail
! in, man in the Illinois metropolis boasts
of having accomplished. What n the
French Academy of Science pronounced
impossible in IT'S, one Chicago boy de-
clares he has done in 1870. Horace
Wickham. Jr., has a machine which has
supplied its own power and been in per-,
pctnal motion for seven months, and
which is never expected to stop except
from the actual wear and tear incident
to things earthly. butt is hoped that
this contingency will be avoided if the
concern is kept in the Divorce City. 9aU
This petit, long-haired young man.
who is triae shakey in general knowl
edg. butts as sound as the pyramids in
the matter Of inventive faculty, has spent
six years of unremttiug application. has
wasted nearly all the funds that he
could get his hands upon, and has filled
half dozen garrets with a choice assort-
ulcnt of demeralized wheels, cranks, PIN
ions. cogs, levers and wheels, but the
yoth himself believes he has got it this
time for sure. lie has instructed his at
torneys to take the proper steps for claim
ing the rewards offered by various coun-
tries. England and her societies have
given out that she will pay over afloo,-
900. Germany and France nearly the
same amount. and it is understood that
10000 has been offered for the result
by the Smy,hsonian Institute. f., bs.iay
Ardescription of the machine says that
it stands upon a marble table, where no
outside power can be applied to it. Sew
eral upright standards were firmly screw
ed upon the. slab. A lever, some two
feet in length, delicasely hung between
two of the standards. was oscilating stead
ily up and down. like the walking beam
of MINIATURE steamboat. A thin shaft
hung from one end, the lower extremity
of which was attached to a main wheel,
and this to few plain cogs. surmounted
by an infnitesimal governor such, as
is used for regulating the speed Of all en-
gines. ;-4 2. "a ..t ..-.;,e H.
The diminutive beam seemed to. drive
the, main wheel, the wheel seemed to
turn the cogs, the cogs forced the ,"gov-
enor" to spin about. -.
The enthusiastic Inventor showed how
the walking beam was hollow. and its
interior formed an iunbroken circuit. in
which little balls, partially filled with
mercury, were chasing each other in an
eternal pursuit how the air was exhaust
ed from the channel in the beam so that
the spheres Of quicksilver might play in
a vacuum how when ball reached
the end Of the beam furthest from the
wheels, valve was driven open and the
sphere was forced up into the top Of the
course to be again hurried on its unbro-
ken route how the, main wheel had
quicksilver in some of its spokes, ready
at the proper instant to overcome the
weight of the balls at the further end Of
the beam short, exactly how hiis
very simple and yet altogether beautiful
device was operated. sdz1 J,um ooi ID
For seven long months has that little
beam moved steadily up and down. and
the main wheel has ground out its fifty
regular revolutions a minute, and the
minor. cogs hare bssp driven. faster. still,