The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-09-21

parent air OF VANITY, anu Sdlu:
"Have you an idea, any of you, of til,
object of the work you see me engaged
in?''
They said they had not.
"And if you lived to see as the result o.
that work Cmy inccssant and untimely
application as you call iD if you lived t
see vessels crossing the Atlantic withou
the need of either wind or coal, thereby
reducing freight and making importation:
cheaper; and if you lived to see mills ani
factories going without steam, and without
the consumption of any valuable substance
to produce motive power, thereby reduc
ing the price of food and clothing; if yor
lived to see all this, and knew that the
world was indebted for it to me, YOU
father, would you then say as you have
just now rather unkindly said, that my
interest in my fellow men was dead? Tel
ME, would you say then what you have
very lightly said now!'
They all disclaimed any intention tc
speak unkindly to him, and asked wha,
were the means by which he expected tC
bring about the startling results he had
mentioned. Was it by means of cleo.
tricity?
"No.'
by magnesium"
"No.n
" "Sy cold "ir'"
"By what means then?''
"Well, l say nothing now, but you
shall know in time There is no need for
alarm about my health. Beside, bear this
in mind, a man must profit by his mo-
mcnts of inspiration when they happen to
come to him, be it midnight or midday.
If he breaks off train of abstruse think
ing for the mere sake of eating dinner,
he should not be disappointed if he eats a
few more dinners before he is able to re-
sumo it again. So if you wish to please
me, boys, you will not seek further to in
quire how I spend my time. l shall al
ways be glad to see any of you in my
workshop, but without permission you
must bring no strangers"
This conference with his children ended
in a victory for MI Van Pclt, and it is
merely in Justice to their tilial intentions
that we have tried thus distinctly to out
line it, His workshop became more than
ever his continued resort. He never
seemed to be quite at ease out of it. There
his children saw one machine after anOth-
er MISUNDERSTANDING system of wheels,
levers and wei ghts. Mr.. Van Pclt found
that he could not make all of the pieces of
machinery he required, and in such cases
he constructed a model, or designed a
plan, and sent it to the foundry of u New
York machinist and engineer, where such
an appliance as he wanted was at once
made and sent home to him. This ma
chinist happened to be acquainted with
one of Mr.. Van Pclt's Sons, and expressed
to him, from time to time, a great admira-
ton for his fathers mechanical ingenuity,
and this being repeatedly told to Mr.. Van
Pelt, he at length consented to the gentle
man paying him visit in his workshop.
On the occasion of this visit all the ma
chimes in the workshop were exposed to
view excepting one, and that was careful
ly boxed up.
Well, what is your opinion?' asked
Mr.. Van Pelt's son of his friend, when
they had left the workshop. Are all
these contrivances of any practical value:'
None of those | was permitted to see
arc of any value; but do you know what
they are?''
II do not, indeed
"They are copies, and notifications of
copies, of some rather famous machines
which have been contrived in times past,
and Judging from what | have seen am
rather afraid your father is in pursuit of
that igais fatuus, the perpetual motion.
"Ah! do you really think so. l fear
your surmise is too true. And | suppose
perpetual motion is now admitted by the
oretical and practical mechanics to be an
impossibility ~
"Oh, there are a great many skilled
mechanics, | assure you, who believe in
it; but men of science, familiar with the
operation of natural laws, know that per-
petual motion is an absolute impossibili-
ty. This has been demonstrated over
and over again since the time of
Newton. I pretend, as you know, to
be mechanic, theoretical and practical,
and the proof that perpetual motion is
impossible seems to me conclusive
and overwhelming. There is nothing
in nature but what discOurages belief in
it, The late jeremiah Day, of Yale Col
lcge, has indeed stated in SiWiman's Jour-
nal that the revolution of the heavenly
bodies is one known instance of perpetual
motion, but this, to say the least, is open
to very grave doubts. Comparatively
speaking, the motion of the heavenly
bodies is perpetual; but astronomers tell
us they are subject to the same laws as
terrestrial substances, and that doubtless
in the long run they as infallibly obey
them. But Notwithstanding the fact that
only failure and disappointment have
awaited all believers in the perpetual mo-
ton, very many most ingenious men, such
as your father, are engaged at this very
moment in patiently toiling for its discov-
cry; and it is indeed incredible how much
time, and money, and peace of mind
aye, the mental sanity also, are sacrificed
year after year in this bootless search"
is there any similarity in the methods
by which inventors have sought to produce
perpetual motion?'
"Oh, yes Their machines have nearly
all been different applications Of the
same principle, being attempts to over
throw the just balance insisted on by
nature. There is a wheel in your fathers
workshop which may serve as a represen-
tative Of nearly all the others. Its action
is somewhat complex, but its principle is
simple, and can be explained to you in
this way. The wheel is to be turned by
means of weights fixed at equal distances
round its circumference, and it will con-
tinue turning forever if the preponderance
of weight can always be thrown on the
descending side of the wheel. This has
been sought to be accomplished by ar
ranging the weights SO that on the ascend
ing side of the wheel they will fall in to-
ward the axis or centre, and on the de-
scending side fall out to the circumfer-
cree, and even beyond it; because the
further from the axis the weight may be,
the greater is the force it will exert on the
wheel. But although many such arrange
ments have been contrived and set in
operation, we have got no nearer
perpetual motion than we were before,
for the wheel presently comes to
a standstill. Now look at the
weights just as they are when the wheel
stops, and what do you sees You see that
although the weights on the descending
side are ON the whole further from the
axis than those on the ascending side, yet
there are not so many of them on that side
as on this, and calculation demonstrates
the fact that the extra power derived by
the position of the weights on one side, is
exactly counterbalanced by their excess of
number on the other. In short, what the
perpetual motionists have done is to throw
more soeiq1sts, but not more ,oeight, on one
side of the wheel than of the other. The
weight remains equally divided between