Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely Read online

  All this was published in the Scientific American; nevertheless, the compressed air story would follow Keely doggedly in his shadow for the rest of his life and beyond. In the meantime, articles in the press rapidly grew in number and news of his invention was being published by most of the leading newspapers in the country.

  One newspaper printed a long article mentioning some of Keely's plans for the commercial use of his inventions: "Mr. Keely says that the first public exhibition will be upon the Pennsylvania Railroad, when he proposes to take a train from this city to New York and return. He will have the 'generator' stationed at West Philadelphia, fill the 'receiver' which accompanies the engine and take vapor enough to draw twenty cars to New York and back. The passage of the train will be silent. There will be no cinders, no escaping steam, or dropping of coals to set fire to bridges. The engine will be smaller than those now in use, but will be of greater horsepower. He says that the generator can either be carried on the train or left at a depot, according to the wishes of the engineer. It is small and compact and takes up very little room. For street cars, as a motive power, this invention, it is claimed, will undoubtedly become popular."4

  Another newspaper wrote that Keely's invention, "if applied to navigation, the propelling power, it is said, would not cost more than $5 to run a steamer from Savannah to New York; and, as the necessary machinery will not take up one-fourth part of the weight and room of the boiler, engine, and fuel of equal power, another advantage would be additional carrying capacity and space for freight."5

  But Keely's discovery would have many more applications; "Guns are to be fired by the same power that drives the ship that carries them; explosions are to be rendered comparatively harmless; engines of 5,000 horsepower are to be constructed so as to occupy no more space than an ordinary steam-engine, and all the marvels which are accomplished by steam are to be performed with infinitely greater ease by the cold vapor evolved from water and air." Notwithstanding all these grandiose schemes, some of the stockholders were becoming impatient, and, "not being men of science, are unable to see why we cannot patent what we have, and then patent the improvements that we are able to make."6

  More philosophically, and probably with its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek, a Philadelphia newspaper had room enough to wonder and to point to the inherent dangers of such a discovery: "Such being the force of the new agent, the United States government ought to buy and keep a monopoly of it. ...With such a possession the country could defy the assembled powers of the earth. ...There is one thing that may save us — the one thing that seems to have thus far delayed the practical use of the new power; it is so subtle that no vessel of any kind of material will long contain it. The vapor from a pint of water penetrated through the pores of an iron receiver three and a half inches thick, forming a damp circle of three feet radius on the floor around. "7

  In the winter of 1875-1876, Keely constructed two metallic spheres, one was about thirty inches in diameter that hung like "an ordinary terrestrial globe." This device, Keely claimed, would revolve with a force equal to two horsepower and would continue to run when started "as long as the Centennial Exhibition would be open, and until the device would be worn out by friction." The device produced power through what was described as "a peculiar-shaped hole in a sphere of iron."

  A very sketchy report of the workings of the device has survived. Keely started explaining its working by writing some figures in chalk on a blackboard: "Keely pretended to explain this phenomenon by a string of unintelligible jargon, but the point of all this was that he said the thing ran in consequence of its internal mechanical arrangement — or, in other words, that by combining pieces of metal in a certain way power was generated without any other expense than that required to construct the apparatus. Naturally he refused to show the interior construction which did the miracle, but if his statements were true, it existed inside that globe, and could be produced indefinitely with the result of producing an indefinite amount of horsepower without current expense."

  The stock of the Keely Motor Company rose considerably, about 600 percent, and stockholders expressed their wishes that Keely would patent the device. However, he refused to do so. Disappointed, some stockholders sold their stock and left, and the stock gradually declined.8

  In 1877, a committee of the Franklin Institute witnessed some of Keely's experiments9 at his invitation, but were not permitted to see anything but the results. Many people, scientific and otherwise, would visit Keely's workshop by invitation, but there was no agreement regarding the character of the experiments. Machinists, physicists and engineers generally were disinclined to believe that any new force had been demonstrated by the experiments, but the vast majority of those who were permitted to see the experiments were convinced that his invention was "destined to revolutionize the world."10

  That year, Keely also completed an improved machine and was "about to submit it to a thorough scientific test." This new machine was described as being "placed on an iron bed-plate, two cylinders, or upright tubes, on each end, 8 feet high, the right-hand one 12 inches in diameter, that on the left 9 inches in diameter, each three inches bore on the inside. Wrought-iron rings are shrunk on these tubes to strengthen them. At different distances, graduated to a gauge to show pressure on the top and bottom, are compressing valves. In the center between these cylinders, at the top, is a sphere of fourteen gallons capacity, with three tubes connecting it with a middle one, smaller, which rests on a chamber, tea-cup shaped, and in turn rests on an octagonal box, which is fixed to the bed-plate, known as the expulsion-box of the machine. On each side of the central portion is a shell fourteen inches in diameter, seven inches inside, resting on a base through which is a three-quarter inch tube. One tube connects the shell with the expulsion-box, and all are bolted strongly together. On a line with the side shells rests what is called the expulsion-lever, and, singular as it may sound to those who have never seen the operation, this lever opens communication with all parts of the machine, producing vibrating action and the vapor, that impalpable thing about which there has been so much speculation. Connected by small copper tubes, not over three-fourths of an inch in diameter, are two very large spheres of steel — one, termed 'the register of force,' with a capacity of 12,5 gallons and 9 inches thick: the other, 60 gallons and 6 inches thick — the two becoming reservoirs of the power."11

  The operation was apparently simpler than the complex structure of the device suggested; a rubber hose, five-eighths of an inch, would be attached to the hydrant, and two or three gallons of water was poured into the device. The gauges, with graduated scales, would indicate the height of the water column, "the result, varying as it does, so far as power is concerned."

  Air was then forced in the upright left column with a pump. The pressure that was applied was "usually about five pounds" and sometimes "as much as ten pounds." By application of mere air, or by "bleeding of the gauges," the pressure was "regulated at will," and Keely's device was "what is technically called, set." The power was made from "hydrant water and ordinary air, no chemicals about it, and it will drive an engine and transmit power," as the vapor passed from the device into a steel shell and into a condensing apparatus. From there it went through a "small tube and thence to the engine."

  During a private demonstration, the valves "were all opened to show the machine was clear, air introduced and the lever was lifted, the first move showing 1,750 pound pressure on the gauge to the square inch, and though the chamber for condensing was open the current did not blow out a match held over it. With 6,5 pounds air pressure, the gauge indicated 5,200 pound to the inch and then 6,700 on the third trial. On the fourth it lifted a large lever (weighted) registering 5,000 pounds dead weight. The vapor was turned into an expulsion chamber and the cap flew off with a report like a rifle, frightening half those present, and lastly a 5 horsepower engine with 3/4 inch stroke and twenty-four-inch flywheel, was driven at 680 revolutions to the minute." What else could "the skeptical engineers"
who were present do but mutter that they "were convinced that the power was there, and that it could be applied"?12

  In 1878, Keely was still busy constructing strange-looking devices, conducting extraordinary experiments and giving the occasional demonstration, but not producing anything of commercial value or ready use, and still no patent secured. Naturally, this lack of progress would be reflected in the press, and in 1878 the tone in the newspapers had changed markedly. Although most of these had been critical but objective at the start of Keely's remarkable career, now articles began to be published that were skeptical and sometimes even outright hostile in tone. In February, Keely wrote a letter to Edison, inviting him to visit his workshop and inspect his inventions: "Dear Sir, you have doubtless heard of my invention known exclusively through the newspapers as the 'Keely Motor.' My discovery consists in obtaining from air + water through vibratory action an elastic substance of great energy + capable of the same influences which produced absorption in water, giving a vacuum. Thinking that perhaps from your long experiments + extended knowledge in vibratory forces, be interested in seeing the operation of my invention I take the liberty of extending to you an invitation to visit my place at some time that may be convenient to you where

  I'd take pleasure in snowing you my machine and operating it for you . . "13 Interestingly, Edison had started working on the first crude talking machine late in 1877, a forerunner of his phonograph that would be patented in 1878.14 But around 1878 Edison was also experimenting with more exotic devices, one called a vocal engine that operated on sound waves, which he also patented in the same year.15

  A person named Lynch offered to accompany Edison to Keely's workshop, but Edison's reply was curt. In a letter to Lynch, written on August 30, 1878, months after Keely's invitation, he wrote: "Collier just visited me. Keeley (sic) only willing to show pressure. I will not go until he works an engine."16 In the end, Edison never came to Keely's workshop, giving rise to the legend that Keely refused to invite him.17

  In March, a statement was published in which J.B. Knight, secretary of the Franklin Institute, announced, after examinations that had lasted for a period of five months, that he had reasons to suspect that the gauges on the motors which had registered 11,000 lb. to the square inch were altered. He also stated that he thought that the machinery was made "large and massive for the purpose of misleading those who care to view it and every one else...," and that "in operating the engine, no vacuum was produced or utilized as claimed." Knight therefore concluded that Keely's multiplicator with its attachments, including the reacting device, were not capable of producing the effects claimed. The enormous strength was, according to Knight, "entirely unnecessary in sustaining the pressure to which they are subjected, but are rather calculated to astonish and mislead those who witness his experiments." In his opinion, the extreme high pressure that Keely claimed was not produced, "probably in no case exceeding 500 pounds per square inch, and that the readings of the gauges and weighted lever apparatus were incorrect." Keely's vacuum was not produced by a condensation or absorption of the alleged vapor, but by mechanical means, "such as a previously exhausted chamber or its equivalents." Keely's vapor was to him "simply atmospheric air which had been previously compressed and stored up in the various hollow spheres and other chambers of the apparatus in the intervals between the experiments."18

  Samples of Keely's vapor were submitted to Charles M. Cresson, a then well-known chemist, for a "careful analysis." Cresson's report stated that the vapor was "merely atmospheric air," and that the pressure in the tube was only 225 pounds, instead of the 1,200 pounds that Keely claimed.19 Keely's reaction as might be expected was one of anger, and the reaction of the stockholders, who by now had expended millions of dollars was one of astonishment. Keely proposed to give "two public exhibitions a week with the motor in an endeavor to demonstrate that it is not a fraud."20

  However, these public exhibitions did not do much to clarify things for the skeptics. Two weeks later, a Philadelphia newspaper remarked while publishing a letter by a stockholder of the Keely Motor Company, Oliver M. Babcock that, "...we would have been more gratified if the letter had thrown some light on what is admitted to be the very obscure nature of the moving power of the machine, and the mechanism through which it displays a transient force."

  Babcock's letter was a defense of Keely against another attack, this time by professors Marks and Barker of the University of Pennsylvania. Just a week before, they had published in the same newspaper a rebuttal of Keely's claims, by stating that the Keely motor according to them worked by, not surprisingly, compressed air in combination with an ordinary hydraulic screw pump, which they saw standing "rusty and dusty in the corner of a remote room of Keely's shop." Babcock wrote: ".. .they can have $ 1,000 if they can, within three months by any means, direct or indirect, fill a twenty pint chamber with air at a pressure of 10,000 lbs." Of the hydraulic screw pump, Babcock had this to say: "...has not been in use since last December. It never was used for compressed air, and could not be so used with success on any considerable volume of air or other substance equally elastic. ...The compressed air theory, especially in connection with the hydraulic screw pump is simply absurd, and does not deserve a moment's notice."21

  In 1878, Keely also began conducting several remarkable experiments involving the suspension of gravity, which he called "vibratory lift,"22 and the construction of an instrument with the same name.23 While experimenting with this device, he made his first discovery of the disintegration of mineral substances by means of the new force.24

  But while these experiments filled his protagonists and those who claimed to have witnessed these experiments with awe, there were still the skeptical-minded scientists who thought quite different about the whole affair. Still no complete engine was forthcoming, and by 1879 this was to have its effects on the Keely Motor Company, all the more because the stockholders were jeered at by the press and others.

  The company was now on the verge of bankruptcy, and Keely agreed to a scheme that the company proposed. He assigned the rights of two of his inventions, the automatic waterlift and the vapor gun, to the Keely Motor Company. Stock was increased from 20,000 to 100,000 shares. The 80,000 new shares were to be divided equally: 40,000 to pay for the inventions, 20,000 to the treasury of the company, and 20,000 divided among stockholders. Of the 40,000 shares that should have gone to Keely, less than 5,000 reached him. Nearly 34,000 went to compensate fraudulent claims held by three separate persons against him. One of these claims involved the case of a man who, acting as Keely's agent or attorney, disposed of two-thirds of the vapor gun and the automatic waterlift, but failed to make the proper returns. The transferee came in for two-thirds of the 40,000 shares set apart to pay for the inventions. A number of shares of less amount went to other persons to whom Keely had made advance sales in order to carry on his work. The appearance of this stock on the market in 1880 broke the prices down to a nominal rate, and it discouraged many stockholders who had obtained their stock by fair purchases.25

  During 1880 there still was not much hope or the prospect of an immediate success of Keely's inventions, and a newspaper even remarked that an office, kept in New York for the Keely motor, was "simply an enterprise for speculations in Keely motor stock — in fact, a stock gambling den."26

  Suddenly in March, Keely announced that he would complete his engine in a short period of time, and not only that, he would feature an entire new line of exotic devices. A newspaper noted that the interest of the general public became "somewhat renewed in the Keely motor, caused by the statements of Mr. Keely himself that he will be ready in about six weeks to put his new vibratory engine to practical use. Instead of the great cumbersome machinery which he had heretofore, there are small, neat looking objects which he calls generators and engines. He claims now to have full control of the vapor which contains such great power, and can do with it as he sees fit. 'About two years ago,' says Mr. Keely, 'I abandoned the idea of applying my vaporic
power to the ordinary piston engines, and by accident found that a new engine of a different sort was needed. It is not an invention, and I do not claim to be an inventor, but a discoverer. I am so confident now that I have succeeded, that I will stake all I have in the world on the results to be accomplished within the next three months.'"

  Keely's new device, the vibratory engine that he had completed in his workshop, occupied a space of about four feet square. "All the machinery is contained in a cylinder which resembles an ordinary drum. Through this runs a double shaft, one revolving in a sleeve. It is upon this shaft that the difficulty at present exists. The negative and positive motions are nearly equal, and Mr. Keely is engaged in the graduation of these so as to cause them to harmonize. When he accomplishes this, which he says is a tedious operation, then the Keely motor will be completed."

  A reporter was given the privilege of a demonstration: "Two small keys were turned, and immediately the shaft, containing an 18-inch wheel, began to revolve. There is no flywheel to the engine, only the one to which the pulley is attached direct. This moves at the rate of about 25 revolutions per minute. Mr. Keely claims that this is all that is necessary, as the shafting may be geared to run the machinery to any speed required... The new generator is also a curiosity. It occupies a space of about 6 feet in length, 10 in width, and a height of 5 feet. There are numerous small pipes, of mysterious appearance of the thickness of telegraph wire, bored to the fineness of a cambric needle. One of these leads from the generator to the engine, and it is claimed that all the power is secured through this medium, and the regularly motion secured by the vibratory apparatus contained inside the drum cylinder."