Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1877 — KEELY’S HUMBUG. [ARTICLE]

KEELY’S HUMBUG.

The Motor Pronounced a Delusion by Scientists and Experts. [From the Philadelphia Record.] For the past.six years the Keely motor has gained no little notoriety, but never, as yet, has an opportunity been afforded the curious scientist for a critical examination of the machine ; so that many have been led to believe it was destined at some day, not very far in the future, to supersede steam as a motive power. Recently several of the most- eminent mechanical engineers have been consulted on the subject, among others one who has been employed by Keely, and who does not hesitate to declare the whole thing a delusion, utterly devoid of scientific merit. • One of these gentlemen states that in 1871 John W. Keely inserted in a newspaper in this city an announcement to the effect that he had discovered a new motive power, consisting of a hollow sphere, which revolved rapidly, as he declared, automatically. As it was well known that Keely was not a practical mechanic, his statement was received with considerable caution, and, being finally found to be of no practical use, it soon dropped from the public mind. The next thing he attempted was a hydraulic motor, which he termed a “hydro-pneumatic pulsating vacuum engine.” In this he claimed that the only force exerted on the machine was water from an ordinary hydrant; that this water had to create a vacuum in the machine, had to actuate a pulsating diaphragm, had to operate a piston in a cylinder, to raise weights and to turn a crank shaft, which was to give out more power than the water itself possessed ; but this scheme was pronounced utterly fallacious, being based on a contradiction of all physical laws. About this time Keely applied for a patent on the “hydro-pneumatic” engine, but from the fact of his never having produced the required working model it was abandoned as impracticable. Then followed what he termed the “Keely motor,” evolved by expulsion from a multiplicator or generator, without the aid of any chemical compound, heat, electricity or galvanic action. The only means he employed, according to his own account, was the introduction of atmospheric air and a limited quantity of hydrant water. By this simple process he claimed to be able to send a train of cars from Philadelphia to New York, the sole motive power being a quart of water in his multiplicator, which produced a vaporic substance. This scientists declare to be nothing more than the compressed air, compressed by the hydrant pressure, which it made powerful by proper machinery. But mere pressure is not motive power—it is a resultant of it. According to the best accounts Keely’s motor does not possess any power whatever, and can never be applied to any practical use. The pressure is not continuous, and onlv exists for a short time, while the machine is not automatic in the same sense that a steam engine or other motor is, and he has so far utterly failed to show a continuity for more than fifteen or twenty minutes at a time.