The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-03-13
THE T~HERMAcHION.
An Illinois Man Invents a Machine for Pro-
ducing Unlimited Heat Without Fuel.
from the Peoria Transcript

ductng Unlimited Heat Without Fuel.
From the Peoria Transcript
MI. J. Chellew, of Glasford, Peoria
county, is at work on a machine for
producing heat by mechanical means.
Mr.. Chellew said: @That it is well
known that heat was a kind of vibration
or motion of the molecules of matter,
and that, therefore, it was possible to
produce it by mechanical means. Iron,
for instance, can be made hot by ham
mering it; heat can Reproduced by rub
bling two sticks together, and many other
illustrations of similar nature may be
given, all showing that heat was a me.
chanical effect" Starting with this idea,
he went to work to construct a machine
which would produce heat.
machine produced a low degree of heat.
The motive power being the work of an
old Seth Thomas clock, the trouble with
the machine was that the vibrations were
n~otregular, hence the low degree of heat;
but he felt encouraged; that heat could
be produced by a machine was evident;
with better machinery more heat could
be produced. He then purchased as
good a Seth Thomas clock as he could
find, having a compromising pendulum
and other improvements, and went to
work on a new machine, which he calls
a t~hermachion, it being the one the
writer discovered him at work upon on
previous occasion. He was very reticent
in showing his thermachion, as he wishes
to secure a patent on it; but 1 can say
that it is a wonderful machine. 1t con
sists of q plain wooden box about two
feet square and three feet high, and, at
tached to one side, like an addition, was
a box made out of thin boiler-plated
being the same height and width as
the wooden box, and about a foot deep.
In the wooden box was the motive
power; in the iron box the heat is gen.
Grated. The essential part of the heat
producing apparatus was a plate which
MI. Chellew calls a model plate" Mr..
Chellew requested me to insert a small
wire through a small hole in the box,
after previously starting the works. In
q few secondsSI withdrew the wire, and
it was too hot to touch with the hands.
He then took a small tin cup of cold
water and put it in the iron box. In
two or three minutes he Withdrew it
boiling hot. OF course it is, as yet, very
imperfect, being deficient in many de-
tails. The highest degree of heat yet
attained with it is about $50 deg. But
Mr.. Chellew expects, when certain i'm
provements he is now experimenting on
are attached, to show 500 deg. of. heat,
or perhaps higher, and, with other i'm
provements and discoveries, to generate
heat to any required degree. The same
instrument will produce a high or low
degree of heat, as may be required,
which will be controlled by a regu-
lator."
1t is extremely portable, and, as there
lis no smoke or gas emitted from it, it
can be placed in any room. The ex-
pense of running is nothing, except the
ordinary wear of the machinery. 1t
can be adapted to any purpose for
which heat is required. 1t may be used
for cooking or heating, being 10 porta-
BILE it may be taken from one room to
another. 1t may also be used for gen.
Grating steam for any engine, and who
can say the amount of saving it will
effect?