The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-02-08

rHE cuNNtNa coNrRIvANcF OF A NEW
YORK GENIUS TO RUN
FOREVER.


A city man who had been informed
that there was piece OF mechanism
purporting to be perpetual motion
10 existence at Lyons, Wayne county,
made visit to the town a day or two
ago to satisfy his curiosity on the sub
iect. On his return he said: 81 can
not say, 4 came, saw, / conquered,
for to tell you the truth / was unable
to discover how the machine does
what saw il do, bat there is some
trick about il | am satisfied. Still az
a mechanical curiosity the contrivance
ought to pay in dime museum.
went down to Lyons and after little
search found David Jennings, a man
about 40 years old, the inventor OF the
motor, or whatever you would call 1t.
| made known my wish to see his ma
chine, and after little parley he con-
sented TO give me view of it, pre-
facing his consent by stating that it
was taken apart and would have To be
connected before it would work. We
went to his house, in the yard back OF
which stands a workshop containing
the motor. Every door of the shop
was locked, aud as its owner produced
KEY TO the front door he advised me
that could go in the back way with
less trouble than by the front, as /
would have to climb ladder in the
latter case. He opened the back door
from the inside aud was ushered in
to room twenty feet square, fitted up
like carpenter shop, with various
tools lying around. The apparatus |
came to see was attached to bench
and consisted of chain about five
feet long made Of peculiarly shaped
links that could not easily be describ-
ed without drawing. One of the
links was out of place and the inven
tor proceeded TO put 1T in order.
When that was done the contrivance
was ready for exhibition. The chain
ran over three rollers that formed
vertical triangle, one side of which
was perpendicular. The chain was so
constructed that in running between
the rollers that were vertical the links
had a movement by which they closed
together 80 that in the space OF foot
there would be one or two more links
than in the same distance when the
links were extended. There would
consequently be greater weight in
the vertical line in an equal distance
than in any other place in the chain.
1t was on this difference in weight
that Mr.. Jennings said the power of
the machine depended. One of the
pulleys over which the chain ran was
connected with brake-w wheel by
which the MI ton OF the chain could
be stopped by applying the brake.
After the chair was connected and the
brake taken off, the chain began to
run around the pulleys as though it
had an inherent motion. The pulleys
over which it ran we're set on rollers
that reduced the friction to the mini
mum, but the force of the machine was
only triAe, as l could stop it with
my fingers. The chain seemed to
carry itself around the triangle con-
tinuously but noticed that Jennings
would not let me take hold of the
brake, and / half suspected that it had
something to do with the constant
motion of the chain, which, apparently
moved in defiance OF the laws of grav-
ity. If had been allowed to closely
examine the whole thing / am satisfied
that could have discovered the secret
of its action. admit that it is a we'll
contrived device to catch the eye and
deceive the unskillful into the belief
that it is perpetual motion. Jennings
told me that he had spent $5O,OO0 on
the invention, and had been working
at it for twenty-one years. The ma
chine he has in Lyons is the 1O2d one
he has built, and he is not satisfied
with it.
"If you ask Jennings for an expla-
ton of the working of the contrivance,
his ans wers are not clear He talks
about the surplus power in the
double chain and the mechanical con-
struction of the links in a way that
makes me think he is not informed on
the laws of mechanics or is trying to
deceive the visitor by the use of jar
gon that sounds learned but means
hing" - Rochester Post. Express.
| e al Il