Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-06-19
THE KEELEY'MOTOR.

ll>heS the power tnat Will 90 the future work
Of the world /; power generated without ex
,cnsc, by a siupe mechanical contrivance,
without the aid Of heat, chemicals, or cleo
trlclty.
The subject was the "Keeley Motor" and
the speaker man who formerly acted with
credit iD public life 10 Washington, and has
luvre recently gained reputation for able
literary work not the sort Of person at all
to be carried away by enthusiasm for an i'm
practicable invention or deceived by q mcchanl-
cans trick.
Your faith in this marvellous thing gives
me Just ylimmering Of confidence in it, l
answered. II shall 10 longer dismiss the eX-
raordinary reports afoat about Mr.. keeley's
machine as unworthy OF uo,ice Pray tell me
upon what information you base you belief hat
Jour friend has discovered new aud mysteri-
Gus force %
Upon personal knowledge. have witnessed
his experiments for more than three years. l
have not only seeo tho operations Ut this force,
tut believe have some conception OF the sclen-
lllic principle that uuderlies, 1t.
Aud do you mean to say that by passing
few gilIs of water through col lection OF hollow
cylinders aud pipes, an expansive power great.
cr than that ut steam IS created.
II do. Air aud water are all that 60 toto
the generator, and With these materials, by
means purely mechanical, a pressure OF 1000
tons is produced in less than ten seconds
time
You might as we'll tell ME that you have u
coubiuatiou OF levers by which you can lift
bourself over The Tribune tower In New York
W your boot-straps. v haI you say is absurd. ;"
THAT | admit" replied the advocate of the
new motor "All scientific men say it is i'm
posslble that the machiue should do what We
claiu-but then it does it ell the same. 10 ten
minutes it will produce power enough TO run a
Is horse power engine for "A b. us.
Let met catecblzc you d little.
"Very we'll tut there are some questions L
nave no right TO answer" said the geDtlcnan,
with postiyeness that showed he meant to be
on his guard.
''Is the expansive force a ga ?"
No; we call it IL yapor. At low pressures,
or rather on row Iines,' as we say, for We have
TO coin expressions 10 apply to entirely new
phenomena, it is Opaque like steam, condenses
10 water as rapidly as steam, and has about
the same specific gravity; but on high lines it
is as dry as the atmosphere, invisible, tasteless
odorless and non iufammabe. 1t is also en-
during. and has been kept in receptaces five
weeks at time without losing any OF its en-
crry. ln fact it could be stored up for years
and possess just as much energy when freed as
when first confined.
''N hat amount of pressure cau be developed
from given quantity OF waterY'
Three hundred tons FROM single gill, Is
uear enough approximation. MIR. keeley has
never venturcd to extract the utmost possible
force
Pursuing my line of cross examination,
asked if look at the inside of the "muItlpli-
Gator, as the force. generating engine Is called,
"a N, r,ip ph 1ph 1 "a
After you bad examined it you would know
no more than before, he replied. The vital
lty of the machue lies iu little apparatus
which could be put in the walstcoat pocket,
and as the principle governing its action Is a.
treIy beyond The present ken OF Scleuce, an eX-
animation of the mechanical device would not
Le likely to give c'eW ~ the secret
Have you any objections to telling what led
Nr. Kelley to make the discovery (
No objections whatever. Some time ago,
after many years Of experimenting, MIR. keeley
constructed what he called the hydro. pneupat.
c-pulsaiiug vacuo-engine--an Invention sum
clcntly wonderful 10 itself to have gwen him =
world wide reputation, but although prodlg-
ious advance beyond the steam engine, 1t was
as dwarf to a giant relatively to the discovery
to which its workings led first saw THIS ma
chiue IN 1872, iu the bathroom OF MIR. keeley's
had turned into O workship. 1t was snail YER
teal engioe, of three horse power, operated by
the pressure OF air aud water 10 connection
with vacuum chamber and cylinder. The
device for producing vacuum and shifting It's
operation from the chamber to the cylluder and
back, was of such Ingenuity as to stamp MT
krcley as a mau of the highest order OF iDVen'
tive genius. To get this eUglne IN motion the
first operation was to exhaust the air from
vertical drum with an air pump. water was
then let into the lower part OF the apparatus
from the dydraut through snail gutta-percoa
tube which had been cut 10 two and Jolned by
goose-qu to better show how small the stream
was. Within three minutes the t1ywheel was re
vo!vny with extraordinary velocity. The motion
Of the piston was surprisingly regular ana
smooth. aud there was 90 noise excepta pecuar
puuglug sound as the piston descended ioto the
cylinder. | was greatly Impressed Win tnis STU
gular machine. The abseuce of hre and all the
surroundings we are accustomed 10 hear, see,
and smell in connection with steam engines 10
Vested il with an almost supernatural character,
and had half apprehension that II "ou'u
walk off or strike me dowo, or do some other
desperate or devilish thing. While experiment,
iug with this Invention Mr.. keeley discovered
tha, he had Invoked from water and air apower
he lad not dreamed of. He abandoned bis
original paus aud began investigating the new
spirit which he had summoned from Nature
aboro,ory At last be found out how to geo.
crate the uew force apd tried to test Its power;
He applied it to gauge that measured ooo
bounds to the square iuch, but the unEoown nn
force broke it 10 pieces. Then he got LOW
pound guage, with no better success. After"ato
he made force register, with compound levers
aud found that bis new power exerted pres. ;.
sur ofabou, 10000 pouods to the square incn.
My informant went on to describe the inveu, ,
tors efforts TO subdue the demon be had
raised aud make il work tractaby. At first he
had to take his mul,iplicator apart every time
he made an expulsion of power. The first ne
eessty was to make it automatic 10 its work.
lugs, so that it would furnish steady supply
o. losce. This was accomplished only very re-