To the Tesla list from Elihu Thomson regarding Perpetual Motion... (fwd)

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Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:49:55 +0000
From: Jeff Behary <jeff_behary@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: jeff_behary@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: To the Tesla list from Elihu Thomson regarding Perpetual Motion...

Hey all,

Most of you know who Elihu Thomson was...I recently acquired a copy of a few 
short pages that Thomson wrote about John Keely, inventor of the infamous 
"perpetual motion" machines, "sympathetic vibrations", etc.  A brilliant 
fraud in any case that died before he was officially "found out".  And a 
name mentioned at every Tesla conference by at least someone claiming that 
he wasn't really a "fraud"...

While this isn't directly related to Tesla, perhaps the moderators will 
appreciate some excerpts of a story everyone has heard more or less at least 
once.

We recently acquired a 4 page letter written by Thomson that described in 
detail one of the "Keely seances" to attract wealthy investors for his motor 
company.  Thomson went with professor Houston, his partner, to try and 
discover whether Keely truely believed in his own jargon or whether it was 
"willingful fraud".  (Thomson should have received a metal for this!)

I can only quote a few lines as I don't have permission to publish this in 
full  yet.  But of these quotes, you'll get a good idea of the real story 
often missing from the regirgitaged stories:

"There was plenty of quasi-scientific jargon indulged in by the exhibitor 
even in those early days...  There was nothing said about sympathetic 
vibrations, or harmonies, as I presume the jargon had not developed to such 
a pitch of refinement" (!!) ...
"To show the generator of the power was empty, Mr. Keely  attempted to turn 
a cock on one end of an iron cylinder and thereby open the cylinder to the 
air.  The cock projecting outward did not turn easily and he seized a pair 
of gas-pliers and --- broke it short off near the cylinder...  not for a 
moment did I turn aside or relax my watchfulness...he dropped the pliers and 
broken cock and said nothing of it except to keep up the jargon of 
meaningless terms..."
"A globe motor was shown, and consisted of a copper sphere about 8 inches in 
diameter...it slowly got up a speed of 300 or 400 revolutions per minute 
gradually, yet it was said to be impossible to stop by the hand....it 
rattled about in its bearings while revolving, and I would have undertaken 
to have stopped it with a slight pressure of my little finger..."
"The 'vapor' from the generator filled a 'reservoir of the power' through a 
copper pipe about eight feet in length of one-sixteenth inch bore in a few 
seconds to about 4000 lbs (shown by the gauge of the reservoir) althought 
the capacity of the reservoir was not far from a cubic foot... it had near 
its bottom an ordinary globe valve of about one inch pipe size, opening 
outward to the air...this value did not hiss or leak...The vapor according 
to Mr. Keely condensed at once on falling to 300 lbs. pressure, yet we were 
allow to hear it and smell it as it escaped...it smelled like oily air...The 
handle of a revolver could be seen projecting from the pantaloons worn by 
the exhibitor at this occasion...is not that an eccentricity of genius?" 
(!!)
"I saw in 1879 at the shops of T. P. Morris & Co., Philadephia, a turned 
globe of steel three feet in diameter with a six inch opening inside, lying 
in the scrap metal, as discarded bauble of Keely's.  Also two heavy hollow 
cylinders of forged metal...when I saw them being removed from the lathe, a 
rather heavy job, "He pays cash, we ask no questions!" was the comment of 
the director of the works..."

Handwritten comments:
"the fact that despite its having been lubricated with the money of 
creditulous fools for twenty years, it persistantly refuses to move".

Rita and I found the last glass plate negatives made of Keely's motor in 
Kinraide's lab.  They are some of the most treasured pieces in our home, 
despite the fact that he was a fraud.  That's bizarre scientific "history" 
at its finest!

Today in the Tesla Coiling community little has changed.  We have all rubbed 
a lot of elbows with geniuses and frauds, repeating history in many 
instances over and over again.

But in this case, and I am sure there are many more examples, these excerpts 
by Thomson add a lot to the story, and in my opinion only make it even more 
enjoyable.

Jeff Behary, c/o
The Turn Of The Century Electrotherapy Museum
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com

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