John Linley's Hydraulic Device. 1831
An account of this was published in 1831 in Mechanics' Magazine, and is as follows:
32. Perpetual Water-wheels and Pumps (vol. 14, 1831).—A correspondent gives a description of a plan which he says he believes to be entirely original, and not without considerable claims to plausibility, thus:
Let a b c d represent a wooden cistern, or trough, half filled with water; E F G, three overshot water-wheels, supported by the upright piece; K is another cistern, or trough, filled with water up to the dotted lines; P is a syphon to convey water from the lower to the upper cistern K; R is a beam supported from the cistern; S T U are moveable cranks attached to the horizontal shafts through the center of the water-wheels—each crank has a connecting-rod to the beam R; V W are two curved spouts to convey water from one wheel to another. It may be well here to premise that each water-wheel has a pump and beam, as only one is seen in the section.
Now, in order to put the machine in motion, it is only necessary to draw a portion of water from the syphon over the wheel E, which immediately revolves, consequently the pump L M draws water from the lower to the upper cistern K. Now, the water passing over the wheel E is collected by means of the curved spout V, and is conveyed upon the middle wheel F, which also gives motion to another pump, and draws in like manner. Again, the water passing over the middle wheel, is collected as before by another curved spout W; consequently, the lower wheel is put in action, accompanied with another pump. Hence it is obvious that three water-wheels and three pumps are worked by one stream of water from the syphon. What more is required to perpetuate its motion?
John Linley.
Wicker Sheffield, May 28, 1830.
Device of Author of the "Voice of Reason"
In 1831 a contributor who signed himself Author of the "Voice of Reason," furnished to the scientific journals of England an account of what he claimed was a Perpetual Motion Device invented by him. It should be said to his credit that he claimed no surplus power for his device—only that it would run itself. He, in fact, stated that his machine could not perform more than the simple operation of pumping its own water.
The principle upon which he relied is sufficiently shown by the following figure, and the following excerpt from the contributed article:
Observing that persons no less distinguished than Bishop Wilkins, the Marquis of Worcester, etc., have amused themselves with such things as perpetual motion, it may be some apology for a humble individual residing as I do in a very retired part of the country—scarcely within reach of much society—to confess that by way of a little rational amusement and relief to the mind, I have at times, amid a variety of other investigations and inventions, amused myself amongst the rest, with this of perpetual motion. The result I will, with your permission, lay before your readers. That I trespass upon your pages, you are indebted to your correspondent, Mr. Linley, whose invention I thought might partially lead to an anticipation of one of my own, a model of which I constructed a short time ago. The system which first came to my mind, as likely to lead to the accomplishment of perpetual motion, was that of the syphon; experimenting with which, opened discoveries that might prove useful in hydrostatics. Amongst these was a mode of equalizing the horizontal surface of the water in two separate vessels of different altitudes. The following sketch will afford an idea of my invention.
Let A be a vessel, having two orifices, one at the bottom of it, a, and the other open at the top for waste water b, filled to the brim. B, a reservoir, so far filled with water as not to come in contact with the bottom of the great wheel C, whose axle turns in the wood c, attached to the side of the reservoir; d, a crank fixed to the axle of the great water-wheel, which turning moves up and down the rod e, attached to the beam E, which works the pump D, having its cylinder inserted in the reservoir B; f, an upright attached to the upper vessel A, to form a support for the beam E; the whole, together with the cylinder of the pump, being supported and tied together by the woodwork g g g.
To produce the motion, draw the plug from the orifice a, from which the water gushing out with considerable force will immediately turn the water-wheel, which communicating motion, by the crank d and rod e, to the beam E, will cause the pump D to be worked, the water from the spout passing into the upper vessel A. Now, the cylinder of the pump, if one only be used, must be of suitable dimensions, or the velocity of its movement so increased by means of a multiplying-wheel as to enable it to discharge water into the upper vessel A faster than the same escapes through the lower orifice a; consequently, the vessel A will soon overflow from the capacious opening at b, to which a trough is attached, which collecting the waste water, causes it to descend also upon the circumference of the water-wheel; thus contributing to its movement, and at the same time tending to preserve an uniform supply of water in the reservoir for the continued action of the pump. Hence you have a perpetual motion, so long as the whole keeps in repair and in good order, which is all that can be expected of any perpetual motion, constructed as it must be of perishable materials.
But of what use are all the perpetual motion machines, if they can perform no other work than that of keeping themselves in motion? For it is evident, in the case of my machine, that if I wish to increase the power of the wheel, fixed as it is in size, radius, etc., I must increase the jet of water, and consequently the pumps must be made of corresponding dimensions, or exert a corresponding increase of force or velocity to replace the water; so that it is evident, neither Mr. Linley's machine nor mine, in their present fixed state, can perform more than the simple operation of pumping their own water.
And this is the case with all the perpetual motion machines I have ever observed—they can exert no useful or disposable power beyond that of keeping up an equilibrium, or getting beyond the point of equilibrium.
Yours, etc.,
Author of the "Voice of Reason."
