The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-02-08
KHEBY'S MOTOR EXPOSED
Resi- Of a Newspapers Exploration
in His Philadelphia Workshop.
COMPRESSED AIR HIS FORCE.

The X bel, Motor is A''ssea to Ee Fraud
-Pfipes Found in the Inventors House
which Supplied the Motive Power
Sta jftlinr Results Of the Excavation,
.Ifhe Invcstie ators Men OF Science.
| PHIL IADrLpH1A, Penn. (SpeciaD.-For
more han week scientific men, under the
. 2Idspicfes OF the Philadelphia Press, have
sen investigating ta:aas,dsat Il: a!ss,Sdssaatled ksely
Drkalsppv alsspv These researches, it IS IS :::S:ass;
elearly prove that the mysterious Keely
motor was q delusion and deception and
its alleged mysterious forces the result Of
trickery.
The investigators were Professor Carl
Herring, consulting electrical engineer OF
experience; Arthur W. Goodspeed, Assist.
ant Professor OF Physics In TIE University
of Pennsylvania, who visited the labora-
tory years ago at the request OF Mrs.
Bloomfield Moore; Ligbtner Wilmer, Pro-
: lessor Of experimental Psychology in the
University OF Pennsylvania, and Dr.. n. g.
Miller. who has had special training in
mound-digging md who superlntended
the digging operations and plotted the re-
suits.
Every bit OF flooring in the house at No.
1920 North Twentieth street was ripped up
In the search for evidence. Many curious
discoveries were made. The ceiling OF one
room had been lowered about two inches In
order to leave space for wires and tubes.
This ceiling was made OF planks instead OF
plaster, and there were numerous augur
holes and trap doors. The augur holes In
both walls and floors In different parts OF
the house showed that many tubes and
wires ran from one room to another.
! But most interesting OF all was high
q, pressure tube which was built into the
WALL. Although incomplete, the indtca.
tions we're that II connected the three.ton
sphere; buried In the basement with the
lover machine by which Keely developed
pounds per square inch without an upltft-
Ing force OF one ounce under the piston.
Keely attributed this phenomenon to his
"sdiscovery'' Of vibrations, communicated
through wires. And herein lies the whole
significance OF the exposure. What ap-
peared In Eeely's laboratory to be mere
wires were in reality lengths OF fine tubing,
through which great power was transmit
ted from the buried cylinder In the form OF
compressed air or gas.
How highly compressed was tho air that
Kesly could store In his big iron sphere 10
shown by the fact that measurements and
simple calculations give this receptacle the
capability OF resisting bursting pressure
OF from 20, 900 to 100, 900 pounds per square
inch.
Unaided as he probably was, Kesly must
have exercised prodigious Ingenuity and
industry In order to build UP the ingenious
scheme by which he was destined toinduce
so many thousands from the pockets OF the
credulous. He worked at many trades to
which he had not been apprentlced. Hs
was plumber, plasterer, carpenter, mason
and many other things combined. One OF
- the important discoveries was long iron
pipe, which ran from very near the shallow
pit In the front room on the ground floor
to within a short distance OF the large
sphere. It was plugged at each end with
curious rlght-angled joints OF very rough
workmanship, but thoroughly efficient for
{. the control Of great pressure.
I It ought to be possible for those who now
have Keely's machines to provo at once
whether compressed air or gas was the
source Of their motion, and to do this at
onoe without giving away any other secrets
of their mechanism: II they are 80 made
that compressed gases would make them
IL will probably be safe to conclude that
their secret Is discovered and to relegate
them to the scrap heap or to put them In
museums to illustrate the success oianother
humbug. On the other hand, II they could
not be made to act BY such force they
will acquire new interest by the demon
Ntration of that fact.