The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1882-07-08
A MOTOR OF PERPETUAL MOTION.
From the New York World. i

There is on exhibition at l6 Chambers
street. o..e sf' -s1m.es SutiG- l-.4-4liAe,
which have been made to utilize the force
of gravitation. Its inventors, Petri and
Proelss, call it a gigantic, incompatible
perpetual motor" ''the non plus ultra of
mechanism" and various other resound-
ing Names 1t consists of two very large
wheels which revolve in opposite direc-
tions and are hung about four inches
apart. In 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
halfway between the center and circum-
ference.
The machine apparently depends for
its power upon the falling of ball weigh
ing ten pounds distance of five feet.
This power has to overcome the friction
of the machine, which, although slight,
must be considered, and if lessened by
the friction of the balls themselves as
they pass along the cutters prepared for
them. What remains is said to he suf-
fcient 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
gayly-decorated set of arms. When a
reporter of ''The World" requested one
of the proprietors to remove this first belt
he refused upon the ground that it would
take too long and that the wheels would
then revolve so rapidly that they would
throw the balls all over the room. While
it is inipOssiBia3 20 A.y 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 purpose of inquiry, be re-
garded as one, and it is certain that no
arrangements of weight would even turn
one wheel. There would be between
them a point where the action and reac
ton would be the same and the machine
would stop. Whether the motive power
be applied through the belt from The
cider press or be concealed in the ma
chinery, it is certain that it is applied
somewhere.
1t was upon the principle used by th'
exhibitors that all of the perpetual-mo
tion machines, from the time of De Hone
court in the fifteenth century to that 0
Marquis Of Worcester in the eighteenth
were constructed. Each of their pro
jsctors worked in the direction of utiliz
ing the increased effect upon the fulcrur
of longer lever, and taking for granite
that the axis of wheel represented tn
fulcrum, they endeavored to arrange tn
apparatus in such away as to cause tn
weight to be furthest from the AK
while descending and nearer while al
cending. Capras, of Bologna, invented
machine in 1878 which consisted Of
wheel upon circumference of whic
weights attached to small arms wei
hinged. His theory was that as the mi
turned, the falling weight would be ca
ried by the arms to greater distan'
from the center--giving longer radius
and thereby turn the wheel. In the m
chine invented by the Marquis of Wo
cester, cannon balls were used whit
rolled in and out it was hoped wou
produce the desired effect. In all
these, however. and in many other sin
lar machines, it was found that there "
always point at which the machi
would balance and motion would ceas
In other words, under the third law
mechanics there was always point whe
action and reaction became equal. VIII
this law was demonstrated by Newt
in his "Principia," it was acknowledg
by all that it would put an end to t
theory of the possibility of perpetual n
tion in mechanics. Force of energy, ho
ever, was not then understood. Ea
manifestation, such as heat, was suppos
to be individual or separate, and was
garded as I" fluid" Rumford, by
experiments in l796 and 1898, gave