Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-20
A MOTOR OF PERPETUAL MOTION
A Motor of "Gigantic, Incompatible
and Perpetual MOtIOD," but
strongly Suggesting Steam
Mem York World.

AetC YORK W0Ttd.
There is on exhibition at 16 Chambers
street one of the many curious machines
which have been made to utilize the
force of gravitation. Its inventors,
Messrs. Petri and Proelss, call it ''gi-
gantic, Incompatible perpetual motor.
1.-THE non plus ultra of mechanism" and
various other resounding names. 1t con-
sists Of two very large wheels which re-
volve In opposite directions, and are hung
about four inches apart. Within the
circumference of each wheel are seven
divisions or sections, In which ball
made of wood rolls freely. The section
is shaped In such way that when the
ball is descending it is carried on the
radius close to the circumference, but
when ascending it is carried about half
way between the centre and the circum-
ference.
The machine apparently depends for
its power upon the falling of ball
weighing ten pounds distance of five
feet. This power has to overcome the
friction of the machine, which, although
slight. must be considered, and is lessen
ed by the friction of the balls them
selves as they pass along the cutters pre-
pared for them. What remains is said
to be sufficient to cause the wheels to
revolve. More than that, there is belt
running from pulley to similar pulley
upon a cider press, and another belt
which turns a gaily decorated set of
arms. When the reporter of the World
requested one of the prOprietors to re-
move this first belt he refused, upon the
ground that it would take too long, and
Al. x7O,,lH fbop paxyp1xrn
rapidly that they would throw
the balls all over the room. While it
is impossible to say that the large wheels
are run by the belt from the cider press,
it is equally impossible to say that the
cider press is run by the motor. As the
two wheels are geared together, they
may, for the purposes OF inquiry, be
regarded as one, and it is certain that no
| arrangements of weights would even
turn one wheel. There would be be
tween them point where the action and
reaction would be the same and the ma
chine would stop. Whether the motive
power be applied through the belt from
the cider press or be concealed in the
machinery, it is certain that it is applied
somewhere.
1t was upon the principle used by the
exhibitors that all of the perpetual mo
ton machines, from the time of De
Honecourt in the fifteenth century to
thst of the Marquis of Worcester in the
eighteenth. were constructed. Each of
their projectors worked in the direction
of utilizing the increased effect upon the
fulerum of longer lever, and taking
for granted that the axis of wheel rep
resented the fulcrum, they endeavored to
arrange the apparatus in such way as
to cause the weight to be furthest from
the axis while descending and nearer
while ascending. Capras. of Bologna,
invented machine in 1913 which con
sisted of a wheel upon the circumfer-
ence of which weights attached to
small arms were hinged. His theory
was that as the machine turned,
the falling weight would be car
ried by the arm to a greater distance
| from the centre-giving longer radius
and thereby turn the wheel. In the
machine invented by the Marquis OF
Worcester, cannon balls were used which,
rolling in and out, it was hoped would
produce the desired effect In all of
these, however, and in many other SINH
| lar machines it was found that'there was
always point at which the machine
| would balance and motion would cease.
In other words, under the third law of
mechanics there was always point
where Action and reaction became equal
When this law was demonstrated by
Newton in his Principal. it was acknowl
edged by all that it put an end to the
theory of the possibility of perpetual mo
ton in mechanics. Force or energy,
however, was not then understood
Each manifestation, such as heat,
was supposed to be Individual
or separate, and was regarded as a
fluid" Rumford, by his experiments
in 1896 and 1898, gave the death blow to
this idea, and first demonstrated the fact
that all manifestations of force were'but
the same thing under d fferent forms.
| The discovery of the correlation OF force,
as Grove called Rumford's law, was fol
| lowed by the discovery by HelmhOltz of
the conservation of force. The two to-
| gether constitute the law of force or
energy as known TO day. Under it we
are taught tn t force, when manifested
in one form, becomes changed into an
other, and that while the quantities of
the various forces are constantly varying
their sum remains unaltered. 1t follows
| from the law of the conservation of force
| that force cannot be created and that
| perpetual motion is therefore an alb
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