St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-06-07
PERPETUAL MOTION.
n Man in Oneida Pretends To
Have Discovered the Secret-His
Machine

a Man in Oneida Pretends To
Have Discovered the Secret-His
Machine.
| Syracuse Herald.
For the last twenty years David Jenn-
ings, of Oneida, has been trying to
solve perpetual motion. He has had his
model i'll operation for several days i'm
the Evans house. The workings of the
machine have been witnessed by
at least 1000 people, represent
ing points as far distant as
Philadelphia, New York, Bos-
on and Chicago. At the time the
Herald's reporter and artist visited Mr..
Jennings at his model room and work
shop. he said he had numerous offers of
fabulous sums for an interest in his in
Yentlon. In the center of the room
stands the nlnety-Seventh model that
MIR. Jennings has experimental upon.
The inventor was not loath to allow an
examination OF the machine, and he pro-
ceeded to set his motor in motion.
The machine is suspended in
wooden frame about feet long.
feet wide and Z feet high, and is i'm the
form OF an endless chain which runs i'm
the figure of triangle over three
pulleyS, leaving three spaces or grades
to pass over, one going down, another
up. and the third about on level. The
line traversed is nearly like the frame of
harp standing upright. The down line
OF the chain is nearly as long as the
other two. The links are about two
inches in length, and are almost in the
shape OF a triangle. AT the TOP of the
frame is located the main pulley, over
which the chain runs. 1t is attached to
n h0f h al,
wheel about three feet in cIrcumfer-
ence, and which, Mr.. Jennings said.
could be made to make about 1000 rev
olutlons a minute. The links of the
chain are SO made with. automatic
working hooks that as they move over
the wheel at the top and begin to
descend, the hooks catch up every other
link and make double chain of it. The
links are held in place until each one be-
gins to turn to go up. when the hook
drops out and the chain moves by sim
gle links. Mr.. Jennings says that the
weight going up is only about half that
when going down. The increased
weight downward serves to pull the
single-link chain up and around the
two sides of the triangle. the inventor
says. The main pulley wheel on top is
composed of two discs, upon the outer
edge of which rest the axles which run
through the links of the chain, and
which 1T supports as the chain runs over
the wheel. The chain must be prom
erly hooked by hand before it can he
started on its first perpetual motion
tour, it is said. 1t is claimed that the
machine now Oh exhibition is about one
tenth horse power.
TO start the motor Mr.. Jennings re-
moved a small pin located OH an upper
corner of the frame, and apparently the
chain started off on its triangular tour
without any power, and gradually
gained momentum. Mr.. Jennings
stepped to the opposite side of the
frame and regulated the motion with a
small brake.
at has been twenty-one years since
built my first model to try and solve the
perpetual motion problem,' said Mr.
Jennings, land since that time | have
spent more than $4,000 in my expert
ments. have built ninety seven mod
els and experimental OH more than
sixty different principles"
In reference to securing a patent on
his invention, Mr.. Jennings said: THE
papers are in Washington, and nv Sy-
racuse attorneys are hurrying things as
much as possible"