Schemes for Pcifctual Motion. 37.7 



The Marquis of Worcefter, ,vho will ever be remembered ns the inventor of the (lean, 



engine, has defcnbed a perpetual motion in the 56th number of his Century of Inventions, 



publ.med in the year i6ss, and fince reprinted in .767 by the Foulis's at Grafgow. His 



words were as follow : 



« To provide and make, that all the weights of the defcending fide of a wheel (l>all be 

 perpetualy further from the centre than thofe of the mounting fide, and yet equal in n^m- 

 ber, and heft to the one fide as the other. A moft incredible thing if not feen, but tried 

 before the late King (of blelfed memory) in the Tower by my direftions. two extraordinary 

 ambafl-udors accompanying his Majefty, and the Duke of Richmond and Duke Hamilton', 

 with motl of the Court attending him. The wheel was .4 feet over, and 40 weights of ro 

 pounds a p.ece. Sir William Balfour, then Lieutenant of the Tower, can juftffy it with 

 feveral others. They all faw, that no fooner thefe great weights palTed the diameter line of 

 the lower fide, but they hung a foot further from the centre; nor no fooner paffed the dia- 



l^quenc"" ' "^^" '"''*'' ^"' '^'^ ^""^ " ^°°' "'""• ^' P'"^^^ '° j'"*e'^ "- ""- 



Defaguliers, in his courfe of Experimental Philofophy, vol. I. page ,85, has quoted 

 th.s pafl-age, and given a iketch of a pretended felf-moving wheel, fimilar to that of fi. s 

 plate _.vv. as.refsmbling the contrivance mentioned by the Marquis of WorceRer. The 

 defcrtptton of th.s laft engineer agrees, however, fomewhat better with the contrivance 

 fig. 4- It muft of courfe be a miftake Jn terms, when he fays the weight receded from the 

 centreat the lower diameter, and approached towards it at the u'pper : the con" .J 

 being in facl neceffary to afford any hope of fuccefs ; and accordingly in the quotation it is 



U^^t'K *''" Tlr. f r''' '° *'"' *'" 'S- S reprefents the wheel of Orfyreus at 

 Hcfl-e CafTel, much alked of about the year ,7.0, and which probably was made to revolve 

 during the time of exhibition, by fome concealed apparatus. It confifts of a number of 

 cells or partitions diftinguilhed by the letters of the alphabet, which are made between the 

 imenor and exterior furfaces of two concentric cylinders. The partitions being placed 

 obliquely w.th refpeft to the radius, and a cylindrical or fpherical weight placed on each. 

 U s f en from the figure, that thefe weights will lie againft the inner Surface of the large 

 cylinder, whenever the outer end of the bottom partition of any cell is loweft ; and on the 

 contrary, when tjrat extremity is higheft. the weight will reft on the furface o^ the interi r 



CDEFGH I being clofe to the external circle, and the weights KLM A B clofe to the 

 inner, for the reafons laft mentioned. As the cell B defcends. its weight will likewife run 

 out. at the fame time that the weight in the cell I will run in, in confequence of its par- 

 tition being elevated. By the continuation of this procefs, fince all the weights on the de 

 cending fide pafs down at a greater diftance from the centre, while thofe on the afce d n, 

 ToL : °:;;°"'^''7^'^'= P"' °f "-- ^fcent at a lefs diftance from the fame point. i! 

 concluded that the wheel will continue to maintain its motion. On this, however^ it is to b, 

 remarked, that the perpendicular afcent and defcent are aUke, both in meafure, a id i i Zl 



fubjedls. IS fufficient to fhow that the preponderance is not quite fo palpable as at firft it an 

 ZL 7 "?-:^ "" ^"'' '■' " '"' "■' ' ''"^ "' "*= cvidently'in'equllibrio, b ca 1' ; 



^ . weight 



