Perpetual Motion Machine - 1877

Perpetual Motion Machine

Chenango Union, April 26, 1877

Mt. Upton [Chenango Co., NY]:  Perpetual motion has been the ignus fataus which has lured inventors in all ages. Through years of unrequited toil and fruitless research, a law of nature as unyielding and immutable as that which holds the planets in their orbits, barred the way.  But all of these difficulties have been overcome by James Merenus, a resident of this town.  He claims to have invented a machine which once set in motion will run on indefinitely.  It consists of an upright wheel which is propelled by twenty-four iron balls, so arranged with cogs, levers, etc. that the balls entering at the circumference of the wheel, are carried around to a point sufficiently above the center, on the opposite side, to allow of their being discharged upon an inclined plane, traversing which they return to the starting point, and thus keep the machine in motion until it wears itself out, or disturbed by some great convulsion of nature.  Mr. Merenus expects one million pounds sterling from the British Government as a reward, for his labors, beside all benefits and emoluments which will accrue to so great an invention in this country.  He is well along in years, and should get his invention into practical shape soon as possible, as, in case of his death, the loss to the world would be as great as it would have been had Morse died with the electric telegraph but dimly outlined in his brain; or Robert Fulton, before his steamboat gave it first snort on the Hudson.

Chenango Union, May 3, 1877

White Store [Chenango Co., NY]:  Will the Mt. Upton correspondent to the Chenango Union please inform us in his next, whether Mr. Merenus has really discovered "perpetual motion," or whether it be a hoax?  We are somewhat interested in science, and if the great mystery has at last been solved, we wish to procure shares in the great invention before it be too late!

Chenango Union, May 10, 1877

Mt. Upton:  In reply to the White Store correspondent, we will say the invention mentioned by us is no hoax--at least not in the opinion of the inventor.  We have seen drawings of the machine, and listened to the lucid explanation by its author, of the way it will work.  Although it was about as clear to us as the noon-day sun on a rainy day, we accepted his statement, that he had already constructed a machine that would run, and was about to construct another on more scientific principles, which without a doubt would be a success.