The Portland daily press., 1896-02-22
A STRANGE MACHINE.
Is that SeIf-SHppIying Power En-
CINE.
PRESS REPRESENTATIVE SEES IT
GO AT LONG ISLAND.

Explains 1t as Well as He CAN'T Certain
Iy Goes and Puffs Cold Air Instead of
steam-Reader Must Judge for Him.
self.
| Yesterday afternoon a representative
of the PRESS visited Long Island in
company with friend and Mr.. William
| A. Rober, who claims that ne invented
self-supplying power machine, COM
pressed air being the power. Some de-
scription and a cut of this machine were
| recently published in the PRESS.
| Mr.. Rober is small man, about 40
| years of age with a pleasant face, of
blond complexion and with light nous
tache and whiskers. He had been in the
city all the forenoon. We went down
on the 2 o'clock boat. Mr.. Rober had
with him the designs of the machine
| that he had sent to the patent office
when he secured his patent He lives in
one of Mr.. Ernesto Ponce's cottages just
few steps from the head of the Casco
Bay Steamboat Co.'S wharf.
! In small room just off the parlor, is
| the wonderful machine. The ajr-oom-
pressor sets on the floor and is cylinder
| Is inches in diameter by "a inches high.
1t is made of very heavy castings. Run
ming out of the top of it is the piston,
which is converted with the crank which
turns the two wheels, one large and
very heavy fly wheel and the other
cogwheel, which connects with very
small engine, only about an inch by an
inch and half in dimension. This
engine is connected with the air compress
sor by a rubber tube.
Mr.. Rober said that this air-compres-
sor was charged with compressed air
which gave a pressure of 20 pounds.
This had been pumped in by an air-pump
about three weeks ago.
| Inside this air-compressor is the tank
which holds the compressed air and the
piston which moves back and forth in
cylinder.
| Mr.. Rober turned the fly wheel to show
that the momentum of 1t and the elias
ITCHY of the compressed air would cause
it to turn about two-thirds around. 1t is
| the little engine that causes it to turn
the whole way around. This engl ne
supplies the deficiency in completing the
| revolution. The engine is worked by the
compressed all which is conducted into it
! by a rubber tube.
MIR. Rober turned a valve, thus allow
| ing the compressed air to escape along
the tube and into the engine, which i'm
| mediately began to go rapidly and the
fly wheel began to turn and the whole
thing was in operation.
Cold air was being pulled out of the
little engine instead of steam. You
could feel it with the hand and you
could also distinctly hear it.
AT the bottom of the air-compressor is
valve. By holding the hand over that
you could distinctly feel the regular
sucking of the air. The air was being
drawn in down there just as fast as it
was being pulled out by the little engine.
| That fact was certain.
| The machine was stopped and started
several times and ran about 20 min utes
while we were there. 1t ran rapidly and
with a good deal Of force. A band was
attached to the fly wheel and number
Of other wheels were made to reyolve.
1t was certainly marvellous thing in
appearance to see Mr.. Rober come into
that house from the boat, and without
even taking his coat off, go straight to
that room, turn valve and cause this
machine TO start up, drawing in and
putting out cold air.
The explanation of how that piston
works aud why it works, is rather diff
cult to understand. Mr.. Rober claims
that more air is sucked in at the bottom
than is used up in the engine and there
fore there is slight accumulation of
compressed air in the tank at every pull
sation of the engine.
The idea is that the valves allow the
air to pass through in but one direction
and close and prevent it's passing back.
much as rat trap allows the rat to pass
in, but not out.
The compressed air enters upon the top
of the piston and forces down. The
momentum Of the ~ wheel and the en-
CINE fill the piston up again. When
the piston goes down it congresses the
air below it and forces it through one
of those rat-trap valves into the air.
compressor. When the piston goes up it
causes a partial vacuum and the air
rushes in from outside through another
| rat-trap valve.
I That Is Mr.. ROBBERS sexplanation as
near as could be understood. 1t was
suggested that the accommodation in
the tank of compressed air might burst
it, but this could of course be prevented
By allowing the air to escape through a
safety valve.
All this sounds feasible, and when
| YOU see the machine in rapid motion II