The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-30
PERPETUAL MOTION.
Ingenuity That Has Been Wasted l. pom
This DcluSive Problem.
FROM tie London Syondur.i.

UUOB
nctism aud electricity have played i'm
portant parts in the straining after
perpetual motion.
A curious machine was invented in
America some time since. 1t acted,
or, rather. should have acted, by
capillary attraction. A piece Of
cloth, endless, like an ordinary roller
towel. was so arranged hat one side
Of it could take up water from a
trough. This would cause the cloth
20 shrink. and so pull UP the piece at
the bottom. causing a continuous mo
ton. claimed the inventor. 1t didn't.
Another curious machine was built as
follows: An endless pipe in the shape
of an oval was stood erect on one side,
and onc-half Of it was filled with wa
ter, the other half being empty. Then
balls. heavier than air, but lighter
than water, we're dropped! through the
part only occupied by air, and popped
through Il valve at the bottom of the
pipe. SO entering the half Of the tube
occupied by water. OF course, they
rose by their own b%uoyancy, came
through another valve into the air
space: fell down, and repeated the OPP
Grafton. There is q eat virtue in an
''if," according to high authority, but
there was the opposite Of it in this in
stance. If the water in the tube had
had been obliging enough to stay in
it's proper place the perpetual motion
would have been discovered, but the
water did not know its place, and so
the ingenious continuance was a fail
urc.
y very simple arrangement was pat
cntcd in America in 1876. 1t con-
sisted of a pair Of cones, hinged at
their apiccs inside. The ratcntcc
proposed to run it on rails inclined to
each other. There was a space be-
tween the two cones for freight and
passengers, and the principle upon
which the car so formed was to run
was based upon the fact that if two
cones be placed upon planes inclined
to each other Uhe rails in this CASEY
their bases will tend to come together.
Gamgcc' perpetual motion machine,
which was patented IL few years ago,
was Il very clever arrangement, worked
by the alternate compression of air
and water. 1t really did work for ten
hours at Il strctch-that is, it ran, but
did not work, and would have been
perfect but for one little thing. That
triflc was the complete elimination of
friction. However, the machine was
a success in Oh, way, for a patent
valve arrangement, which was a part
Of it, was sold by the inventor for the
respectable sum of E30, 900.
Scientists have for a long time past
recognized the impossibility of per-
pctual motion. About a hundred
years ago the Academic Royale des
Sciences, at Paris, passed a rcsolu-
ton that they would no longer enter
tain letters upon this subject, and
they included with it the quadrature of
the circle, the trisection Of the arc,
and the duplication Of tho cube. But
in spite of this there were taken out
in England and France during the ten
years ending 1870 no less than 119
patents for perpetual motion. 1t is
hardly to be expected that the cheva-
!;cT a'indust-;c should Sa6p his tai
ents clear from perpetual motion, and
so numerous swindles have been per-
petua.cd with reference to it. One of
them was discovered in 1916 by IL
famous engineer in Paris. The ex-
hibitor had his machine upon a table
on Il bare stage, but the practiccd ear
of the engineer detected the alter
nation of speed and slowness which is
invariably present when a crank is
worked by hand. He and his COM
panion sprang upon the stage, and, in
spite OF the exhibitor, overturned the
table and found Il pair Of wires run
ming down inside one of it's legs.
These, on being followed, were found
to stretch under the stage and on: to
back yard, where perpetual motion in
persona was holding n piece of bread
in n hand and turning acrank with
the other.