Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-12-05
KELLY KEEPS At H.
As Usual, His Meter is Nearly Ready
to "MOte"
John Jacob Astor Saw 1t Work,
But Keeley's Explanations We're
Unsatisfactory Remarkable His
tory Of tho Inven or and His Al
ways Unfinished Machine.


John WOrran Kelly is either the
greatest genius or the greatest humbug
of the age. For over a quarter Of a
century he and his always unfinished
Keely motor have been unsOlved mys-
teries of absorbing interest to both the
Law and scientific mind. Mechanical
experts and capitalist have seen
Keely's mysterious machines apparent
ly annihilate the power Of gravity, and
they have seen the simple music Of the
harmonica or q either start the ma
chimes in motion, but thus far the APP
paratus has failed to develop into a
commercial engine that would perform
the work Of electricity or steam. Fur
thermore, Keely guards the secret OF his
machine with jealous vigilance. he
Will not take out patent on il He re-
fuses to permit experts 10 look 1t over
and satisfy themselves that clever trick
cry and not primitive atomic motion
is the secret Of the mysterious force ne
claims to have discovered and chained.
Notwithstanding these facts, now
ever. Keelv has succeeded in persuad-
! ing capitalists to turn over to him hum
dreds of thousands of dollars for eXper-
mental work. and one capitalist at
least is yet furnishing him with means
70 continue his work.
Renewed interest in Keely and his
/ invention was aroused recently by the
report that John Jacob AsJOr, who is OF
q mechanical turn of mind, had ac-
CURED a block of stock in the Keely en-
/ terprise. and expected 10 profit largely
/ when the motor began to mote" As
tor. at the solicitation of Mrs Bloom
fe,d-MOore, the wealthy woman who
/ has for q number of years past fur
/ nished Kelly with all the money he
/ needed, visited Philadelphia and saw
/ the motor In operation, but no eXplana-
/ lions of workings was vOuchsafed by
/ its inventor. Keely told the young null
/ timillionaire that the machine was not
/ quite completed yeti has been in the
/ same advanced state for about twenty
/ years-and Astor, it is understood, de-
clined to invest.
| Inventor Keely was born in Philadel-
phia September g, 1887. He attended
/ the public schools until he was twelve
1 years of age. and then became a carpen-
/ ter's APPRENTICE He continued to be a
! carpenter until he was thirty-fve years
/ old. but meantime became interested in
speculations concerning physical forces
and originated many remarkable theo-
4 ries. The vibration of windows and
] glass dishes in response to the sounding
/ of various musical cords led him 10 be-
lieve that the waves of sound and light
could be chained by silence and made 70
perform the work that is now done by
. steam and electricity. He claimed that
with six drops of water and q pint of
air he could produce and store in very
few minutes a force called interatOmic
ether. This force was released from
. the air and water by means Of vibration,
and the vibration was produced by a
blow upon metal. by the tapping of a
/ tuning fork. by the scraping Of a fiddle
bow. the twanging of a either and in
many other similar ways.
In 1872 Kelly succeeded in interesting
/ capitalists in his theories, and the Kelly
| Motor Company was formed. In 10
years 100000 was advanced to him for
/ governmental work by the stockholders.
/ Kelly invented what he called a hydro
pneumatic pulsating vacuo machine"
whose action, he alleged, was produced
bv forces obtained from water end ar
by means OF sound vibrations. These
! forces. he claimed. eXerted a pressure
! Of 500 pounds to the square inch. Dur
ing the 10 years Keely constructed 124
/ engines. and finally declared that he was
able 10 produce his mysterious force, by
! means Of air and vibration alone. He
also invented a motor gun, from which
/ bullets were expelled by his mysterious
J force. and successful tests were made
at the government range at Sandy
Hook.
As the years passed and the stOckhOld-
! ers saw none of their money coming
] back. they became very impatient, but
| Keely declared that the machine was
/ almost finished" For d time this
! statement Quieted them, bu, they ceased
! supplying him with money, and pro-
! ceedings were brought 10 compel him
10 explain to a committee of experts
! the workings of his machine. The
| fused. Judge Finletter, Of Philadel
ph.a. committed him for contempt Of
court. and on November II. 1855 Keely
was fncarcerated IN Moyamensing pris-
on. A few days later he was released
on a writ of habeas corpus. Finally the
/ cour. appointed q scientist acceptable 10
/ Kelly and the stockholders and to this
/ expert, under str.C. pledge Of secresy,
/ Kelly explained the mysterious work
,ngs Of his motor. The expert reported
/ 10 the stockholders that Keely really had
a good thing. and was no, an impostOr.
This was all very well so far as Il went,
/ but it did not go far enough to satisfy
the men who had advanced large sums
| of money. They threatened again 10
| iail Kelly. and one night he chopped up
an his machines.
Abou. this time Mrs. Bloomfield
| Moore began to furnish Keely with all
the cash ne needed, and he is stu hard
81. work building machines and spend
Ing her money. lie now claims he has
succeeded m hitching his motor 70 the
polar current. which Scientist James
N. Wilcox declares envelopes the earth
as an orange is covered by its rind.
such experts as Prof. William d.
Marks. Of the University of Pennsylya-
MIA. and Lieut.. T. L. Zalinski the in
vsD-Or Of the pneumatic dynamite gun.
have both examined Kesly's machines.
and have declared that his mysterious
power is nothing more than compressed
air In 1883 Marks denounced Kealv as