Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-16


disk turning at the rate of one revolu-
ton every ten or twelve minutes.
A few years ago popular method OF
extracting money from the pockets OF
gullible persons was that of exploit
ing stock in a fake "poWer multiplying
engine. 1t was claimed that by q GER
tain piece of mechanism the power at
the cylinder of an engine could be
multiplied three times at the driving
shaft. A shop was rigged up in New
York and an ostensbly practical DEM
onstration made of it, This consisted
in having two cylinders of equal size,
one driving an ordinary engine mech
anism and the other the power multi
plier" 1t was apparently shown that
the "multipier" would lift weight
three times as large as the other en-
gine. 1t was reasoned by engineers
that if one-horse power at the cylinder
would develop three at the crank end,
ii was obvious that 1t would mean per-
petual motion. If this reasoning had
been logical they could have hitched
the engine to a motor and got two
horse power for nothing, but 1t proved
to be merely a scheme to multiply
dollars in the pockets Of the promoters.
Another interesting perpetual motion
machine was produced in Philadelphia
after the expenditure of 100000 and
ten years of labor. 1t consisted of u
long shaft mounting four hywheels
loose These wheels were so arranged
that three of them were being speeded
to a high momentum while the fourth
was driving the shaft through one
quarter of a revolution, with the sup
ply of momentum that had been given
it by the same process. They reasoned
out its success in the following way:
"Imagine a fywheel such as is used
ordinary fbnngDn1 horse
power engine mounted freely upon a
shaft. A hundred horse power would
make 1t spin around at high speed,
wouldn't it? And it's momentum would
carry the shaft over the center through
quarter of its revolution without
serious loss of speed, wouldn't it?
Yes, If its heavy enough and the speed
high enough Well then, we will take
four such wheels and keep them spin
ming around by the use of four one
hundred horse power engines. BY an
automatic arrangement we will hitch
up each wheel for quarter revolution
and will be getting thousand horse
power with four hundred" That was
the reasoning, but 1t was as fallacious
as it seemed plausible, and the mo-
mentum engine went to the junk heap
along with all similar perpetual motion
schemes.
One of the most common principles
used by would-be perfectors of per-
petual motion machinery is the shot
wheel. 1t has buckets on its periphery
each large enough to hold "A wooden or
iron ball. The buckets on the de-
scending side of the wheel are fed
with balls from an incline, while those
! on the ascending side are empty, the
difference of the weight being SUM-
cient to cause the rotation of the
wheel. AS the balls reach the lower
,f fhpW smiled
out of the bucket at the bottom and
are lifted back to the top of the in
cline by means Of an endless belt on
pulley driven by the rotating motion
of the machinery. No means having
been provided for the loss of power
by friction. of course the machine is
bound to come to a rest.
In another machine the balls are al
lowed to fall upon an endless belt
mounted on two wheels. Their weight
rotates the wheels and the belt. and
theoretically furnishes enough power to
turn a screw that will lift them to the
top again. In still another machine OF
this class the balls that have descended
roll down an inclined plane into a
tube filled with quicksilver They
naturally rise to the top of this ana
| are ready to begin a second downward
| tourney. In another Oft-repeated idea
there are dozens of little hammers so
placed on the wheel that their heavy
ends are close to the center when
ascending, and close to the rim when
descending, the descending hammers
producing rotation by their added
| leverage.
One of the most unique inventions
ever brought out utilizes the buoyant
force of water II consists of an end
less belt mounted on two pulleys To
this belt are attached a number of lit
tie collapsible floats. They are loaded
so that they collapse when descending
into water and open to their full size
when ascending. 1t was figured by the
| inventor that the increased buoyancy
of the expanded floats would serve TO
produce endless motion.
Many perpetual motion inventors
| have sought to use the water wheel in
their work In one of these water Is
placed in a big reservoir some distance
above an overshot wheel The water
pours over this wheel and causes it to
rotate After driving the wheel the
water is carried into a trough below,
from whence it is carried back to the
reservoir by a bucket-eevator driven
| by the overshot wheel. In another
water wheel combination the wheel
drives a pump which forces the water
! into the reservoir above.