Perpetual Motion

by Percy Verance; Henry Dircks

[SUMMARIZED TABLE OF CONTENTS]

	Page
Introduction	[3]
Contents	[5]–[6]
Preface	[7]–[10]
Introductory Essay	[11]–[21]
CHAPTER I—DEVICES BY MEANS OF WHEELS AND WEIGHTS—
Wilars De Honecort; A Repetition of Wilars Honecort's plan; Leonardo da Vinci; A. Capra's Device; The Device of Dixon Vallance; Furman's Device; Schirrmeister's "Mechanical Movement;" James Ferguson's Device; B. Belidor's Device; Desagulier's Proposition on the Balance; John Haywood's Device; Explanation of the Failure of Wheels and Weights Devices to Accomplish Perpetual Motion	[22]–[67]
CHAPTER II—DEVICES BY MEANS OF ROLLING WEIGHTS AND INCLINED PLANES—
Device by Mercury in Inclined Glass Tube and Heavy Ball on Inclined Plane; Series of Inclined Planes; Devices by Oscillating Trough and Cannon Balls; Unpublished Inclined Plane and Weights Devices Noted by the Author	[68]–[75]
CHAPTER III—HYDRAULIC AND HYDRO-MECHANICAL DEVICES—
Enbon and Anderson's Pump; Device of "Ed. Vocis Rationis;" Böckler's Plates; John Linley's Hydraulic Device; Device of Author of the "Voice of Reason;" An Italian Device; P. Valentine Stansel's Device; Vogel's Device; A Water Wheel-Driven Pump; "A Journeyman Mechanic's" Device; James Black's Device; Archimedean Screw and Liquid; John Sims's Problem; A Perpetual Pump, by an Unknown Inventor; Explanation of the Failure of Hydraulic and Hydro-Mechanical Devices to Accomplish Perpetual Motion	[76]–[117]
CHAPTER IV—PNEUMATIC, SIPHON AND HYDRO-PNEUMATIC DEVICES—
The Hydrostatical Paradox; Pickering's Device; Stuckey's Device; Prof. George Sinclair's Device; Jacob Brazill's Device; Läserson's Device; Von Rathen & Ellis' Device; Richard Varley's Device; Siphon and Funnel Device; Orchard's Vacuum Engine; Robert Copland's Device; Eaton's Perpetual Siphon; Legge's Hydro-Pneumatic Power Device; Waterblowing Machine; Device by Means of Buoyancy Through Media of Different Densities; Device by Compressible and Distensible Bags in Liquid; George Cunningham's Mercurial Pneumatic Device; Explanation of the Failure of Pneumatic, Siphon and Hydro-Pneumatic Devices to Accomplish Perpetual Motion	[118]–[162]
CHAPTER V—MAGNETIC DEVICES—
A Magnetic Pendulum; Magnetic-Driven Wheel; Mackintosh's Experiment; Spence's Device; Joannis Theisneri's Semi-Circle; Device of Dr. Jacobus	[163]–[174]
CHAPTER VI—DEVICES UTILIZING CAPILLARY ATTRACTION AND PHYSICAL AFFINITY—
Ludeke & Wilcken's Device; the Jurin Device; Sir William Congreve, Notice of; His Perpetual Motion Devices and Writings	[175]–[194]
CHAPTER VII—LIQUID AIR AS A MEANS OF PERPETUAL MOTION—
Liquefaction of Air; Explanation of Conservation of Energy Applied to; Perpetual Motion by Means of Liquid Air Pompously Heralded; Failure Explained	[195]–[196]
CHAPTER VIII—RADIUM AND RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES CONSIDERED AS A CONCEIVED SOURCE OF PERPETUAL MOTION—
Perpetual Emanation of Energy; Radium Clock by Lord Rayleigh (Hon. R. J. Strutt); Lord Rayleigh Not a Perpetual Motion Worker but Thoroughly Scientific	[197]–[199]
CHAPTER IX—PERPETUAL MOTION DEVICES ATTEMPTING ITS ATTAINMENT BY A MISCONCEPTION OF THE RELATION OF MOMENTUM AND ENERGY—
Works of Tyros Known to Author; Momentum Defined, Differentiated, Measured and Explained; Energy Defined, Differentiated, Measured and Explained; Explanation by Author of Common Misconception of the Relation of Momentum and Energy and Attempts to thus Realize Perpetual Motion; the Fallacy Explained by Illustrations of Energy Required for and Represented by Acceleration and Retardation of Velocity; Property of Numbers Relating to; Arithmetical Progression Illustration	[200]–[211]
CHAPTER X—THE ALLEGED INVENTIONS OF EDWARD SOMMERSET, SIXTH EARL AND SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, AND OF JEAN ERNEST ELI-BESSLER (COUNCILLOR) ORFFYREUS—
Intense Interest Caused by; Notice of Marquis of Worcester and Councillor Orffyreus and Periods in Which They Lived; Description by Marquis of Worcester of the Essentials of His Claimed Inventions; Excerpts From Remarks of Councillor Orffyreus on His Claimed Invention; Dedication by Councillor Orffyreus to God, the Public, to Men of Learning and to Himself as the Discoverer; Article Concerning the Orffyrean Wheel Published 1720 in Gentlemen's Magazine; Criticism by "A Constant Reader" of Attitude of W. Kenrick Concerning the Orffyrean Wheel; Article by Rev. J. T. Desagulier Concerning the Device of Marquis of Worcester and the Orffyrean Wheel; Excerpt from Dr. William Kenrick's Lecture on Perpetual Motion; De la Hire's Remarks Concerning Perpetual Motion; Letter from Prof. 's Gravesande to Sir Isaac Newton; Animadversions of Prof. Alliman on the Neglect of the Orffyrean inventions; Dr. Charles Hutton's Scientific Works and Notice of the Orffyrean Wheel; Remarks by the Author on the Historical Celebrity of These Inventions	[212]–[255]
CHAPTER XI—CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. A DISCUSSION OF THE RELATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF PERPETUAL MOTION—
Statement of Doctrine of Conservation of Energy; Upon What Proof of Doctrine Rests; Not Mathematically Proved; Conforms to Natural Phenomena; Multiplied Illustrations; Inter-changeability and Convertibility of Heat with Mechanical and Other Forms of Energy; Explanation of Heat and Energy Units, and Their Relative Equivalents; British Thermal Unit, Foot-Pound and Horse-Power and Their Mutual Relationship Explained; Further Illustrations; Galileo's Famous Pendulum Experiment; Apparent Anticipation of the Principle of Conservation of Energy	[256]–[269]
CHAPTER XII—WILL PERPETUAL MOTION EVER BE ACCOMPLISHED?—
The Antiquity of the Problem; Remarks by Dircks, Newton, Galileo, Huyghens and Descartes; Generalizations of; Remarks by Author Concerning the Possibility of Perpetual Motion. Comments from Other Sources:
1 Denying the Possibility of Perpetual Motion,—Article by Dr. Papin; Article by Rev. John Wilkins; Article Based on Paradoxical Hydrostatical Balance; Article by P. Gregorio Fontana; Article by William Nicholson; Article Published in "The Artisan"; Article Published in "Mechanic's Magazine."
2 Asserting the Possibility of Perpetual Motion,—Scriptural Argument; Article by John Bernoulli; Article by P. Christopher Scheiner; Article by T. H. Pasley; Article Published in "The Pamphleteer"; Article by J. Welch; Article Published in "Mechanic's Magazine"	[270]–[357]

---

[INDEX]

• Air (See [Liquid Air]).
  
• "A Journeyman Mechanic's" Device, [99]
  
• Allaman's Animadversions on the Neglect of Orffyreus's Inventions, [239]
  
• Anderson & Enbom's Pump, [76]
  
• Archimedean Screw and Liquid, Device by Means of, [104]
  
• "Artisan, The," Article Published in, [329]
  
• Bags in Liquid, Compressible and Distensible, Device by Means of, [155]
  
• Bellidor, B., His Account of Perpetual Motion Device, [46]
  
• Bernoulli, John, Notice of, [336]
  
  • Arguments Supporting Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [336]
• Black, James, His Device, [102]
  
• Böckler, George Andrew, His Plates, [81]
  
• Buoyancy Through Media of Different Densities, [151]
  
• Brewster, Sir David, Edited Lectures of James Ferguson, [44]
  
  • In Appendix to Ferguson's Lectures Gives Description of "Water-Blowing Machine", [148]
  • Is Attracted by Spence's Device, and Writes Letter Affording Description of Same, [170]
• British Patents, [58]; [120]; [121]; [125]; [127]; [129]; [132], [140]
  
• British Thermal Unit Defined and Explained, [264]
  
• Cannon Balls and Oscillating Trough, [71]
  
• Capillary Attraction and Physical Affinity, Devices by Means of (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Capra, A., His Device, [32]
  
• Compressible and Distensible Bags in Liquid, [155]
  
• Congreve, Sir William, Notice of;
  
  • His Perpetual Motion Devices, [182]
• Conservation of Energy, Its Relation to Possibility of Perpetual Motion (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
  • Considered with Reference to Perpetual Motion, [269]
  • Proof and Illustration of, [200]
  • Anticipated by Newton, Galileo, Huyghens and Descartes, [272]
• Copland, Robert, His "Improved Method of Gaining Power", [140]
  
• Cunningham, George, His "Mercurial Pneumatic Device", [157]
  
• "Darius Green and His Flying Machine", [16]
  
• Desagulier, Rev. J. T., Proposition on the Balance, [47]
  
  • Article of, Concerning the Device of Marquis of Worcester and the Orffyrean Wheel, [222]
• Dircks, Henry, Title Page Mention, [3]
  
  • His Books Mentioned, [7]
  • Comments by Author on His Works, [8]
  • Information Furnished by, Rearranged, [9]
  • His Classification of Devices, [19]
  • His "Life, Times and Scientific Labors of the Second Marquis of Worcester", [213]
  • Excerpt from, [228]
  • His Statement Concerning Arguments For and Against the Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [270]
  • Arguments by Others For and Against the Possibility of Perpetual Motion, Published by Dircks, Copied in This Work, [274]
• Eaton's Perpetual Siphon, [145]
  
• "Ed. Vocis Rationis," His Device, [78]
  
• Ellis, George Henry (See [Rathen & Ellis]).
  
• Energy (See [Momentum and Energy]).
  
• Energy, Conservation of (See [Conservation of Energy]).
  
• Energy and Heat Convertible and Commensurable, [262]
  
• Energy Defined, Explained and Distinguished from Momentum, [203]
  
• Enbom and Anderson's Pump, [76]
  
• Explanation by Author of Failure of Hydraulic and Hydro-Mechanical Devices, [112]
  
  • of the Failure of Pneumatic, Siphon and Hydro-Pneumatic Devices, [159]
  • of the Failure of Momentum and Energy Devices, [206]
  • of Failure of Wheels and Weights Devices, [61]
• Failures (See [Explanation of Failures]).
  
• Ferguson, James; "Peasant Boy Philosopher," His Device, [43]
  
• Fontana, P. Gregorio, Notice of; His Arguments on the Impossibility of Perpetual Motion, [306]
  
• Foot-Pound, Defined and Explained, [265]
  
• Furman, George H., "A New and Improved Motor," U. S. Patent, [36]
  
• Gallileo, His Pendulum Experiment, [267]
  
• Gravesande, Prof. S., Letter to Sir Isaac Newton, [236]
  
• Haywood, John, His Device, [58]
  
• Heat and Energy Convertible and Commensurable, [261]
  
• Helmholtz, Notice of, [258]
  
• Honecort, Willars de, Account of His Device, [22]
  
• Horse-Power, Defined and Explained, [264]
  
• Hydro-Pneumatic Devices (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Hydrostatical Paradox, [118]
  
• Hydrostatical Paradoxical Balance, Article on, [305]
  
• Hydraulic and Hydro-Pneumatic Devices (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Inclined Planes and Rolling Weights (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Inclined Planes and Weights Devices, Unpublished. Noted by the Author, [73]
  
• Inclined Planes, Series of, [69]
  
• Italian Device, An, [92]
  
• Introductory Essay, [11]
  
• Jacobus, Dr., His Magnetic Device, [173]
  
• Joule, Notice of, [258]
  
• Jurin's Device, [176]
  
• Kenrick, Dr. William, His Remarks Concerning the Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester and Councillor Orffyreus and Perpetual Motion in General, [228]
  
• Langley, Prof. Samuel P., His Attempts and Labors at Heavier Than Air Flight, [14]
  
• Lardner, Ignatius, Attempts to Show Impossibility of Crossing Ocean With Steam Power, [14]
  
• Leonardo da Vinci (See [Vinci]).
  
• Läserson, Louis Diodor, His "Improvements in Production of Motive Power", [127]
  
• Legge's Hydro-Pneumatic Power Device, [146]
  
• Linley, John, His Hydraulic Device, [87]
  
• Liquid Air, as a Means of Perpetual Motion, [195]
  
• Lord Rayleigh (See [Rayleigh]).
  
• Mackintosh, F. S., Experiment by, [166]
  
• Magnetic Devices (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Magnetic-Driven Wheel, [164]
  
• Magnetic Pendulum, [163]
  
• Magnetic Semi-Circle, [172]
  
• Mechanic, A Journeyman (See ["A Journeyman Mechanic"]).
  
• Mechanics' Magazine, Article Published in, [278], [353]
  
• Media of Different Densities, Devices by Means of Buoyancy Through, [151]
  
• Mercurial Pneumatic Device (See [Cunningham, George]).
  
• Mercury, Inclined Glass Tube and Ball, [68]
  
• Momentum, Defined, Explained and Distinguished from Energy, [201]
  
• Momentum and Energy, Account and Explanation of Perpetual Motion Devices by Means of, [205]
  
• Momentum and Energy, Distinguished and Considered; Attempted Devices for Perpetual Motion by Means of (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Munro, R., Comments on Mackintosh's Experiment, [169]
  
• Newcomb, Simeon, Notice of, [15]
  
• Newton, Sir Isaac, Mention of, [135], [220]
  
  • Letter to from Prof. 's Gravesande, [236]
• Nicholson, William, Notice of, [315];
  
  • His Article Against the Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [316]
• Orchard's Vacuum Engine, [137]
  
• Orffyreus, Jean Ernest Eli Bessler (Councillor), His Perpetual Motion Labors (See Table of Contents), [5];
  
  • Remarks of Author Concerning Claims of, [252]
• Papin, Dr., Argument by Against the Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [275]
  
• Pasley, T. H., Article by, [347]
  
• "Pamphleteer, The," Article Published in, [349]
  
• Paradox, Hydrostatical, [118]
  
• Patents, U. S. (See [U. S. Patents]); Patents, British (See [British Patents]).
  
• "Peasant Boy Philosopher" (See [Ferguson, James]).
  
• Pendulum, Gallileo's Experiment with, [268]
  
• Perpetual Motion Defined, [11]
  
• Perpetual Pump, [109]
  
• Perpetual Motion, Its Possibility Considered with Reference to Conservation of Energy, [269]
  
• Perpetual Motion, Consideration of Its Possibility, [270]
  
  • Arguments Against Its Possibility—Article by Dr. Papin, [275];
  • Article by Rev. John Wilkins, [281];
  • Article Based on Paradoxical Hydrostatical Balance, [305];
  • Article by P. Gregorio Fontana, [306];
  • Article by William Nicholson, [316];
  • Article Published in "The Artisan," [329];
  • Article Published in "Mechanic's Magazine," [278].
  • Arguments Maintaining Its Possibility—Scriptural Arguments, [335];
  • Article by John Bernoulli, [336];
  • Article by P. Christopher Scheiner, [342];
  • Article by T. H. Pasley, [347];
  • Article Published in "The Pamphleteer," [349];
  • Article by J. Welch, [351];
  • Article Published in "Mechanic's Magazine," [353].
• Physical Affinity and Capillary Attraction, as a Means of Perpetual Motion (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Pickering, Peter, His "Atmospheric Engine", [120]
  
• Pneumatic Devices (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Preface, [7]
  
• Proposition on the Balance (See [Desagulier, Rev. J. T.])
  
• Radium and Radio-Active Substances as a Means of Perpetual Motion (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Rayleigh, Lord, His Radium Clock, Notice of, [197], [199]
  
• Rangley's Patent Roller Pump, Adaptation of, [97]
  
• Rathen and Ellis's Device, [129]
  
• Rationis, Ed. Vocis (See ["Ed. Vocis Rationis"]).
  
• Rolling Weights and Inclined Planes as a Means of Perpetual Motion (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Scheiner, P. Christopher, Notice of; Argument by Supporting Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [342]
  
• Schirrmeister, Charles, His "Mechanical Movement", [38]
  
• Schott, Gaspar, Mention of in Connection with Perpetual Motion, [172], [173]
  
• Scriptural Argument, [335]
  
• Self-Motive Power Defined, [11]
  
• Semi-Circle, Magnetic, [172]
  
• Siphon Device for Perpetual Motion (See Table of Contents).
  
• Sims, John, His Perpetual Motion Problem, [106]
  
• Sinclair, Prof. George, His Pneumatic Device, [124]
  
• Siphon, Eaton's Perpetual, [145]
  
• Siphon and Funnel Device, [135]
  
• Sleigh, Burrowes, Willcocks Arthur, His Perpetual Motion Labors, [111]
  
• Sleigh, William Willcocks, His Perpetual Motion Labors, [110]
  
• Sommerset, Edward (Marquis of Worcester) (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Spence, John, Notice of; His Magnetic Device, [170]
  
• Stansel, P. Valentine, Device of, [95]
  
• Strutt, Hon. R. J. (See [Rayleigh]).
  
• Stuckey, William Henry, His "Pneumatic Engine", [121]
  
• Theisneri, Joannis, His Magnetic Semi-Circle, [172]
  
• Trough, Oscillating and Cannon Balls, [71]
  
• U. S. Patents, [36], [38], [76]
  
• Vacuum Engine, Orchard's, [137]
  
• Vallance, Dixon, His Device, [34]
  
• Varley, Richard, His "New Perpetual Moving Power", [132]
  
• Vinci, Leonardo da, Notice of, [27];
  
  • His Perpetual Motion Labors, [29], [32]
• "Voice of Reason," Device by Author of, [88]
  
• Vogel, A. F., His "Hydrostatic General Mobile", [96]
  
• Water Blowing Machine, [147]
  
• Water-Wheel Driven Pump, [97]
  
• Welch, J., Article by, [351]
  
• Wheel, Magnetic Driven (See [Magnetic-Driven Wheel]).
  
• Wheels and Weights Devices (See Table of Contents), [5]
  
• Wilckens (See [Ludeke and Wilckens]).
  
• Wilkins, Rev. John, Argument Denying Possibility of Perpetual Motion, [281]
  
• Worcester, Marquis of (Edward Sommerset) (See [Sommerset]).
  
• X-Ray Machine, Notice of, [16]
  

[Transcribers' Notes]

Inconsistent spelling and punctuation have been retained, as this book quotes many sources.