A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1762, 26 August 1874, Page 3

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.

An American inventor, Mr. John "W. ■■] Keeley, asserts that he has discovered aj new motive power which is destined to; supersede steam. This discovery is a: method whereby water is transformed'by; a mechanical process to vapor, without; the application of heat, and yet tho trans-, formation results in the production of a; motor far more powerful than steam.; This discovery is the sequel of 25 years': of experiment on the part of its inventor.? Before ho was 20 yeara old Mr. Kecley was at wort on*a model water-wheel, and, at that time the idea occurred to him that; an engine might be constructed which, should be driven partly by water and; partly by atmospheric pressure, which; shpuM be as powerful as a steam engine j and infinitely less expensive. After many I experiments he succeeded in making anj engine whose - motive power was com-; pressed air on one side, and a vacuum on. th» other, while water was the agent forj fedtfing the vacuum in suspension. This] ills in his opinion a vast improvement,on tho steam engine ; but the - inventor saw; by the working of his model where : ho \ could better it by simplifying it. This he' proceeded to do,, and he nour hajS a.mptor \ which'is .merely a ;colcl vapor, produced; from water by mechanical means,' yet so j powerful that it can produce a pressure of s ten .thousand pounds to the squareineh ; i in fact, the tremendous results of this process quite astounded its discoverer. It is also a,peculiarity of this vapor that it; can be used at any rate of pressure de-' sired,' from ten pounds to; thousands of: pounds to the square inch; it can also be; generated and preserved in receiving vessels for an indefinite length of "time with- j ojut losing its force. , Mr-' Keeley has: proved this by; repeated experiments,; sometimes keeping tho vapor for a , fortnight without appreciable, loss of power. \ When the discovery was first brought to the' notice, of proniinent scientists, the ' simplicity of the invention made it seem impossible to them; they saw the results, but could not believe the evidence of their ownsenses.; They siispocted the hidden presence of electric, magnetic, chemical, or other known agencies, when they witnessed .the marvejlous operation of the, machine, but the,.closest investigation by j experts convinced them that Mr. Eeeley's assertion was true that a mechanical process alone generated this strange motive, power, which was at once so, simple: and bo tremendous.' There is no doubt if Mr. Keeley's process proves to be all that it now promises to be, that steam is destined: to be? superseded entirely _by;this new 1 motoir. An entire revolution in,, .steamships, railway engines, horse cars, .<and in fact in every department of mechanical operations, will be effected, and that speedily. This process is simple and inexpensive, and its.... working models are so, marvellous in their operations,-that not only many scientists but capitalists also have become converts to the new motive power. Already stock companies have be«n formed which have purchased the light to use this new and strange motor in various States, New York and the New England States among them. This is an era of scientific progress, and a motive power which shall -supersede steam, is ,np stranger discovery than the electric telegraph or the uses of steam itself. It was one of Professor Faraday's sayings "that a grain of water contains electrical relations equivalent to a very powerful flash of lightning." If Mn Keeley has learned the art of extracting these electrical fprpes from their watery hiding place, and forcing them to dohis, bidding,, he has only wrested one mbro' of Nature's closely hidden secrets from her jealous keeping, and in this evidence"of supremacy^over ; the material world, he has given another proof that,it is not altogether an idle; boast that man isthe lord 'of creation.