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The Perpetual Motion Machine
For hundreds of years men tried without success to create a flying
machine. It was through the frustration of failure that such a device was
deemed impossible, against the laws of physics.
For centuries science scoffed at the mere mention of the idea, until the
Wright brothers took it upon themselves to build an airplane of their own
design, at their own expense, on their own time, and proved that it is
possible after all. A scant 66 years later, man flew all the way to the moon
and back.
The dream of perpetual motion has followed the same pattern. Intriguingly, however, this dream may not even be as elusive as that of flight. According to the Leipzig Acta Eruditorum for the year 1717, the perpetual motion machine has already been created. A full 186 years before
Kittyhawk.
The device, called "Orffyreus's Wheel," was designed and built by Johann
Ernst Elias Bessler, who was born in Zittau, Saxony in 1680. Unfortunately,
the temperamental inventor became so incensed by the incredulous response
of the scientific community that he destroyed the machines (he had built
several models of varying sizes, all of which were rigorously tested by some
of the top scientists of the day), and took the secret of the technology to his
grave. And so, we can only speculate as to the method of their operation.
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What follows are two such speculations.
There are two basic parts of the perpetual motion machine. A stationary
cylinder, and an inner bar-like mechanism with arms that extend and contract
as it rotates within the cylinder.
The upright cylinder has several magnets firmly affixed to its inner wall.
The bar-like mechanism stands in the center of the cylinder, and has two
basic parts. A thin, sturdy bar that remains stationary, and a delicately
balanced cogwheel mechanism that sits atop the sturdy bar. This part can
rotate in only one direction.
The cogwheel mechanism has three or more arms that extend, one at a
time, and contract as it rotates. At the end of each arm is a slightly angled
magnet which reacts negatively with the magnets that are mounted on the
inner cylinder wall, causing the perpetual rotation of the cogwheel
mechanism.
These arms must be set to extend at the precise point where the arm
magnets and wall magnets will react negatively. There should be enough
arms so that one will be extended at all times. Each arm should extend to
react with each wall magnet.
Another possible design for a perpetual motion machine is a turbine
generator which produces more energy than is necessary to rotate the turbine.
Simply plug it into itself and, theoretically, after the initial push it would run
forever.
CONTINUED
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