MAGNETIC MOTIVE POWER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1111, 2 August 1871, Page 3

MAGNETIC MOTIVE POWER.

We some short time since made mention of this new and economical motive power, and as it excited attention in the town we have sought for further particulars relating to it. The editor of the Journal of Telegraplis, has seen the machine at work at the establishment of Mr. H. M. Payne, of Newark, New Jersey, and gives the following account of it : —

"On a small shelf we found a Daniels battery of four cells, the ingredients of which were the bichromate of potash in the porous cell, and diluted sulphuric acid, of ordinary strength, in the outer vessel. It was entirely inodorous. Beneath it, firmly bolted to the floor, was an iron circular frame, of a diameter of about eighteen inches, the width of the periphery or rim being about five inches. Five apertures equi-distant were cut into the edge or face of this iron case, three and a-half inches in length and of the width of the frame. Into these were inserted the faces of five iron cores, coiled with what seemed to us No. 14 covered copper wire, standing out from the frame and firmly fastened thereto. In the interior was a wheel on whose rim were set six additional magnets, the same as on the iron case, and so set that the faces of the magnets in their revolutions would meet each other at different yet regular periods, corresponding with the donble-crank device in locomotives to prevent a dead centre. By acting on the periphery all waste of power was, of course, avoided. On the shaft which extended from the magnet wheel, there was placed a belt wheel of the usual diameter, connecting with a wheel shaft on the ceiling, which, in its turn, was connected by a belt with a circular saw on a bench. No power was gained by the diameter of the wheels, as they were all equivalents of each other, The wires were then connected, when, on the instant, great rapidity of motion was at once acquired, the floor of the room shaking violently with the power developed. Pieces of wood were sawn l-apidly, and without apparently disturbing the rapidity or evenness of the motion. Two gentlemen, weighing 170 lbs. each, endeavoured to stop the motion of the wheel, by the pressure of a concave break having a surface six inches by four bearing on the belt wheel, but without visible effect. The rapid and effective action has been watched nine consecutive hours by investigating parties, without any perceptible decline of power and with a consumption of less than half a pound of zinc, at a cost of less than half a cent per hour. The power developed was rated at twohorse, and can be maintained for twentyfour hours without intermission at a maximum cost of ten cents. Such at least is the statement made to us by Mr. Payne, and confirmed by a well-known gentleman, who thoroughly examined it. By increase of diameter and width, or by multiplication of wheels and the number of magnets, the power can be largely increased, so we are assured, by the same number of cells. This was proven by the fact that by the addition of wire in the circuit of sufficient length to Rurround another set of magnets, no diminution of power was apparent, although the action of the battery was necessarily less ; thus another wheel of similar power could have been added. The four cells we saw were stated as capable of maintaining the speed and power produced in our presence for sixty hours without renewal, at the cost of about a single stage fare on Broadway per day. " In this machine, so utterly simple as to challenge the scrutiny of the most ordinary mind, we see the dawn of a new power, capable of endless application at a minimum cost, and destitute of the usual elements of danger. It occurs to us very strange that what is just being proposed as a possible status of facts by a' learned divine in England, should prove the selfsame theory which an American citizen has been privately and persistently developing in actual practice for years. To what it may give rise we hare no prophet's ken to tell. If the premises demanded are proven to be correct, its application is infinite. We may yet see the Atlantic crossed by huge vessels, propelled without an ounce of coal, by a power the initiative of which the captain may place beside his writing desk in his cabin, which a child can apply, and the littlest finger may stop."