Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-16
Perpetual Motion
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

TTsS7zzszi6SSSl ERHAPS no other fallacy in
! la a Nj the history of invention mas
Id 81 maintained such a firm hold
IN lNtHll on the minds of people as
In kA<I that of perpetual motion
lEASa4ekslI Despite the fact that all sci
entific thought has long dis
credited the possibility of producing
machine which will run indefinitely
| of itself. there are many who stlll pc
| lieve that such an invention can DE
perfected. The patent office at WASH
ington is overrun with those who be-
| lieve they have at last solved the PROB
| lem, as many as halt dozen appH-
cants appearing there every week.
Usually the applicant declares that
| he has only one part or another is
| lacking, but the patent office tellS
them that only the submission of
working model will be accepted, and
! to date no such model has been sub
mitted, nor is there the slightest prob
| ability that such one viii be. A cir
! cular letter used to be sent out calling
| the attention of perpetual motion
cranks to the futility of their efforts,
ana advising them not to continue
trying to solve the problem, but owing
! to it's ineffeCtiVenesS TINS letter mas
been discontinued.
| A few months ago a woman went
| into the patent office with IA bucket
! and chain machine idea in her head
| claiming that she had at last discoV-
cred the principle upon which the UNI
| verse Is operated. She said she had
| been working on IL for fifteen years,
during all of which time she mad kept
it a profound secret from her nus
! band. She was told that perpetual
| motion had been invented, but that
| the Almighty himself held the orig
| inal patent. She was advised To go
home and give up the idea, and told
| that most of those who continued TO
| follow the perpetual motion will o the
wisp landed in an insane asylum. She,
| unlike most of her predecessors, CON
| cluded to do so. otherwise, her case
was typical of thousands who nave
tried to solve this impossible problem
The machines that have been devised
to operate perpetually have used ABOUT
all of the known principles of motion.
| In some the loss of equilibrium mas
| been the motive force. in others the
| specific gravity of floats and weights
| Immersed in water or other liquid
| Some inventors have used as the pro-
pelling power the ascension of recep-
! tacles inflated with air or gas under
water while the compression and sub
| seouent expansion of gas has been EN-
| ployed as the actuating principle III
| others That the inventors are per-
! fectlv sanguine of success Is demon
| strated by the humorous fact that
many provide brakes to stop thelr ma
chimes, aud others attach governors 10
keen them from running away with
| themselves.
James COX of Shoe lane. London
came nearer to approXmating perpet-
| ual motion than any other inventor III
| the worlds history. His invention was
a clock with a self-winding attach-
| ment This attachment consisted or
| barometer so arranged that WheneNel
the mercury rose or fell ii wound the
clock. Slight as changes in atmospher-
| ic pressure are at times, they were
! always sufficient to keep the instru-
ment wound up, and often SO great
that barometric change would nave
broken the winding mechanism hau
he not arranged "a special device 10
protect it from such catastrophe. Inc
| mechanism was so constructed that
whenever the weights had become
wound up the winding apparatus auto
| matically threw itself out of gear.
When they had descended certain
distance the mechanism threw ltselI
| into gear again in the same way IN
! this particular 1t acted much like the
| automatically operated thermometers
which regulate the heat In big otlce
buildings. A..
The clock was so arranged that the
mower stored through the winding up
! of the weights would last fun year
| even If in all that time there were not
n single huctuation of the barometer
The Cox clock was carried from Lon
| don to China as a present to the en-
peror. on the trip it was slightly IN
| iured. and when taken to the clock re-
| Dairer ii was found that the WHY chi
nese prime minister had substituted
| chean imitation for it-probably win
| the idea of gaining imperial favor py
| nresenting It to the emperor himself
| What became of it has never peen
known. hut some think that even now
| il is measuring time in the lmperlal
palace of Peking.
French engineer has invented
machine that gives perpetual motion
of a kind, though it is confessed that
If can never be more than a curiosity.
! # consists of disk with hole OF
considerable size through its center TO
| allow an axis of wood or iron to pass
! through without touching the DISK
| itself This disk is maintained In a
nerpendicular position with respect TO
The axis by twelve or fifteen strings
! of bemp passing over its rim like the
strings over the bridge of violin. inc
ends of the axis pivot upon pointed
snindles to overcome friction as mucn
as nossible, and the strings are tea
IN the supports of the spindles. The
lower part of the disk is submerged III