CHAPTER II DEVICES BY MEANS OF ROLLING WEIGHTS AND INCLINED PLANES Device by Mercury in Inclined Glass Tube and Heavy Ball on Inclined Plane

Neither the inventor's name nor his nativity can we give. An account of the invention was furnished by a correspondent to Mechanics' Magazine in 1829. The account is as follows:

To the curious who delight in mechanical intricacies, to whom ingenuity of contrivance is the goal for which they run, nothing seems to afford and require such endless resources as that most puzzling thing—perpetual motion. The unfortunate name "perpetual motion," if changed for "mechanical experiment," would eventually, perhaps, remove the real cause of censuring it, by the different idea of the object aimed at.

I now beg leave to offer some account of a combination of movements, which, from its originality, and seeming to possess every requisite for retaining it in action, may possibly be acceptable.

This diagram shows a side view. On the stand A are raised two supports B, each having a center hole at a, to receive the axle of the balanced apparatus, consisting of C, a glass tube containing a portion of mercury G; and D, a grooved scaleboard, in which a ball, E, can roll backwards and forwards. FF are two jointed levers, which are to serve, when struck by the ball, to reverse the position of the compound balance: the whole centred at a, the tube at b, and the grooved board at c. In its present position, the mercury (it is supposed), having flowed to the end C, will depress D, and cause the ball E to roll to D, and depress the end GFD; and so on continually.

Series of Inclined Planes

This scheme is of English origin, and was promulgated in 1864. The name of the inventor is unknown, but he described his invention in a communication to a scientific publication in the following language:

The accompanying diagram represents a series of inclined semi-tubes connected together in the form of a rectangle.

The ball A, is placed at the top of an incline in such a position that it shall descend to B, at which point it will have sufficient velocity or gravity to carry it up the ascent to C; and so supposing the inclines and ascents to be endless, the repetition of the movement must be also endless. I think it is not unreasonable to suppose that a perpetual movement of the ball will take place, from the fact that the velocity imparted to it by its first descent is sufficient to carry it from A to C, those two points being at the same level. I think the only thing to guard against is the ball rushing over the point C, and thus accelerating the velocity at each descent. The incline on road upon which the ball runs can be made either circular, square, octagonal, or, in fact, almost of any form.

Device by Oscillating Trough and Cannon Balls

(Name of inventor unknown)

An adaptation from a "Perpetual Pump" substituting cannon-balls for water.

An account of this invention was published in London in 1825, in the language of the inventor, who says:

The description of the perpetual pump has suggested to me whether the long-sought "perpetual motion" may not be found by a simple mechanical alteration of that machine, and substituting a cannon-ball as a primum mobile, in lieu of the water, not always obtainable. I would recommend that in the bottom of the trough be inserted at each end two dropping-boards, of a triangular form, moving on an axis at one corner, one of which falling below the level of the trough at the elevated end, the other shall be raised by the stop affixed to the standard-post, which, throwing the ball again back to the former end, shall depress that, until the same process is repeated in perpetual activity.

Description.—Fig. 1. A, the trough, swinging on an axis at B. C, the cannon-ball, raised by one of the dropping-boards, D, whilst the other falls through the opening at E, into the trough. F, the support or stop, raising the dropping-board D. The center of the trough ought to be pierced, leaving the sides as a support to the ball, which ought not to be wider than the ball may travel freely through.

Fig. 2. DD, the dropping-boards, which pass through the center so as to leave a sufficiency of the trough as a resting place for the ball to give a momentum, and depress the trough, previously to its being again raised by the dropping-board.

We meekly venture to call the attention of this inventor, if he is still living, and to any others who may be working along the same line, that to our certain knowledge water is more generally obtainable than cannon-balls. We, therefore, suggest the use of water instead of cannon-balls.

Unpublished Incline Plane and Weights Devices Noted by the Author

Except the preceding three devices the author does not remember ever to have seen reported in any book, patent, application for patent, or report, the account of a device for obtaining self-motive power by means of weights and inclined planes, and yet, it is believed by the author from the use that has been made of inclined planes and rolling weights in demonstrating mechanical principles by many natural philosophers, and also from devices that have from time to time been brought to the attention of the author during thirty years last past, that the inclined plane with rolling weights has been a fertile field of folly among Perpetual Motion seekers.

On a number of occasions the author has been asked to view and inspect mechanical devices of that kind, which it was claimed by the confident inventor and his friends "would surely work when just one little thing could be overcome." The phraseology was sometimes varied a little from the preceding quotation, but the substance was always there.

In one instance the device attracted the enthusiastic attention and elicited breathless interest from a doctor and surgeon of much more than ordinary skill and intelligence in his profession, and was hopefully regarded by a number of other persons who had had schooling advantages and were supposed to be versed in the rudiments of mechanics, and, it would seem to the author, ought at first sight to have perceived the fallacy and hopelessness of the inventor's dreams.

All of these claimed inventions relying on the inclined plane with rolling weights were so nearly alike in the principle involved that all may be illustrated by the following explanation:

The above figure shows a vertical section of a device that illustrates the controlling principle in all of these devices. It is manifest that the balls between A and C are hanging equally between AD and CD, the points of suspension A and C being in a horizontal line. It is also manifest that there will be a greater number of balls on the sloping incline AB than on the sloping incline BC. The Perpetual Motion seeker has always argued to himself that the four balls between A and B should pull stronger to the left at B than the two balls between B and C can pull. Sometimes this device has been varied whereby the balls would roll freely down the incline from B to A and then roll back toward C down another incline where they would be supposed to strike a lever and impel a ball from C to B, which ball would then roll down the incline BA, and so on indefinitely.

The error of all this lies in the fact that the four balls between B and A will not elevate the two balls between B and C for the reason that they are on a less inclined slope. As we would ordinarily state it, BC is a "steeper" incline. One ball between B and C by force of gravity pulls stronger toward C than one ball on B A will pull toward A. It is manifest, therefore, that an equilibrium requires a greater number of balls on BA than BC.

BA is longer and accommodates a greater number of balls than can be accommodated on BC. The number of balls that can be accommodated on the respective sides is always found to be such that the small number of balls between BC pull in the aggregate toward C the same as the greater number of balls between B and A pull toward A, and thus equilibrium is established.

It is manifest, therefore, that with the pull from B toward C equal to the pull from B toward A, the mechanism finds its balance and motion ceases. This is true of all similar devices.

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