Unpublished Incline Plane and Weights Devices Noted by the Author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 A D and C D, 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 A B than on the sloping incline B C. 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 B A, 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, B C 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 B A than B C.
B A is longer and accommodates a greater number of balls than can be accommodated on B C. 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 B C 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.
[CHAPTER III]
HYDRAULIC AND HYDRO-MECHANICAL DEVICES
Enbom & Anderson's Pump
"June 13, 1882 U. S. Patent, No. 259514 was granted to Andro Enbom and John A. Anderson, of Augusta, Kansas, U. S. A., on
"Improvements in Pumps."
It seems probable that the inventors did not suspect, and that the patent office examiners did not discover that the device had in the claimed "Improvement" the essentials of self-motive power. An examination of the specifications clearly shows, however, that the claim of the inventors that "the water lifted by the pump is caused in its passage over the wheel A² to give power to the same and thus lessen the labor required," presupposes the principle of self-motive power. The following figure taken from the specifications and the following excerpt from the specifications illustrate the intended operation:
The operation is substantially as follows: By the application of power to the crank a revolution is given to the main shaft A, and by means of this the pump-handle is properly actuated through the intermediate mechanism described. The water lifted by the pump is discharged through the spout e´ to the buckets of the wheel a², and by these is delivered to the trough F. By means of the construction described the water lifted by the pump is caused, in its passage over the wheel a², to give power to the same, and thus lessen the labor required to produce a given result.
We suggest to the inventors that if instead of elevating the water to the place of discharge E´ they discharge it at the level of the trough "F" they will lessen the distance of elevation and will save many times the energy that can be realized by the descent of the water from the level of E´ to the level of "F."