Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely

by Theo Paijmans

  Elsewhere it is confirmed that in 1873 Keely became known as the discoverer of a new power, "which he had not then been able to utilize, to operate machinery, but which could be supplied in limitless quantities at practically no cost. ...He said himself that he made the discovery in 1872, but then had no idea of its origin or laws. He gave no indication of its character, but kept the secret within his own breast until such time as patents could be secured...."59

  Keely did attempt to secure a patent on his device, which was filed on November 14, 1872, titled: "Specification describing a new and useful Hydro Vacuo Engine, invented by John W. Keely of the City and County of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania." The purpose of the machine was described as follows: "The end and design of the invention is an engine wherein the actuating power is produced by a vacuum in connection with water pressure."60

  Yet nothing came of his application. When information was gathered around 1875, a search of the records of the patent office brought to light an abandoned application for a patent for the hydro-vacuo engine, "the said application having been filed November 14, 1872...At the request of the applicant's attorney, a model was dispensed with by the authorities in the first instance; but on November 26, 1872, a working model was demanded before the examination could be completed. Whenever an application for a patent is of doubtful practicability, or based on what is believed to be a fallacy, it is the practice of the patent office authorities to demand a working model, and to refuse to examine the case until the demand is complied with. Nothing was done in this case of Keely's until March 20, 1874, when he appointed Mr. J. Snowden Bell, now the mechanical associate of Mr. Collier, to prosecute the application; but as two years elapsed without any action, the application was thereby under the law abandoned."61

  There are rumors of subsequent patents and the assignment of rights. Wilson for instance claimed that Keely had assigned to him "one full half ownership" of the principles or machine that he built in 1869.62 The other rumors stem in all probability from the 1871 patent, which was granted directly to the assignees, two unidentified persons who at first advanced money for the further development of the Globe Motor and the hydro-pneumatic-vacuo engine, or his patent application in 1872.63

  A mysterious patent that Keely supposedly requested on November 26, 1873, and of which it was remarked that the accompanying drawings "are now lost," never existed.64 In contemporary sources there is no further reference to other patents. It is stated that Keely did obtain a patent in 1874 on the hydro-pneumatic-pulsating-vacuo engine, the original design of the Keely motor.65

  Around 1874 Keely moved to a building at 1420 N. Twentieth Street above Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia, where he established his workshop. There he would construct, over a period of a quarter of a century, various other motors and devices. The workshop was a modest building that was formerly used as a stable. He used the first floor as a general storeroom, and there he conducted his "rough experiments." The second story consisted of three apartments, the first being the office of the inventor, the second the workshop for his globe engine, with an adjoining room where he "religiously guards his latest creation."66

  Several stories exist of the next important phase that was to be his breakthrough, and that would lead to the establishment of a company to fund his researches.

  One variant has it that Keely's new invention quickly drew the attention of a group ofNew York bankers and businessmen, and they asked Charles B. Collier, a well-known patent attorney in Philadelphia, to investigate Keely's invention. Prior to this request, Collier alleged that he had never met Keely, although this is not certain, since he would contradict himself a number of times on this point over the years.67

  Another variant tells that around 1874 two persons, one in New York and one in New Jersey, held contracts with Keely, whereby they were entitled to certain rights in his inventions to be patented thereafter. By mutual consent they agreed to merge their respective rights into a corporation that would be known as the Keely Motor Company. Collier was asked to be their counsel. "At that time," Collier wrote, "I knew but little of Keely's invention. I had seen in his workshop — a room say ten feet square — a 'receiver' charged with a vapor or gas having an elastic energy of 8,000 lbs. to the square inch. I interrogated Mr. Keely critically as to how he had produced this substance. Pointing to an inoffensive looking machine, which stood in close proximity to the receiver, he said to me that he introduced a certain quantity of air into that machine under no greater pressure than was the capacity of his lungs, a certain quantity of water under no greater pressure than was the ordinary hydrant pressure at his residence, and then, by a simple manipulation of the machine, unaided by any chemical substances, heat, electricity etc., he converted a small portion of the introduced water and air into the cold vapor then contained in his receiver."68

  Collier enquired into Keely's character, consulting Rutherford, chief engineer of the U.S. Navy, and Boekel. Collier was favorably impressed, signed an agreement with Keely and went to New York. There he met with some of the most influential citizens, among whom was Charles H. Haswell, who also visited

  Keely's workshop and had seen and reported on the receiver charged with the enormous vaporic pressure.69

  The meeting resulted in $10,000 of the stock being subscribed. Collier made Keely's written declaration a part of his contract with them. Collier returned to Philadelphia with $3,000 and gave the money to Keely, who then paid the constructors of his machine $2,850. But the term of the agreement was that Keely was obliged to explain the principle of his invention, so Collier went to Keely's workshop with his engineering assistant, J. Snowdon Bell. But even with the sectional drawings of the machine — made by Bell — in front of them, Collier and Bell could not understand why the result would follow from its operation. Collier therefore requested Keely to put the machine together and give a demonstration.70 Collier and 10 others witnessed the experimental test run of the Keely motor that fateful night of November 10, 1874, in his workshop at N. Twentieth Street.71

  The demonstration took place in a gas-lit room, with Collier holding a lighted candle.72 Keely proceeded to make an expulsion which meant that he would develop a force or pressure from the multiplicator. The force was sufficient to exert a pressure of 1,430 lbs. per square inch.73 He did this by blowing from his lungs for about 30 seconds into the nozzle upon the multiplicator. He then shut the cock and turned on the water from the hydrant. The water that was poured into the multiplicator had a pressure of twenty-six pounds and a quarter to the square inch. The operation was completed in about two minutes after the attachment of the hydrant was made by simultaneously opening two cocks upon tubes connected with the first and second drums, when the lever and the force register were raised.74

  The multiplicator — or the generator — was not an engine or a motive power motor in the strictest sense; it served as an apparatus for containing the high pressure vaporic substance. The tube for the discharge of the vaporic substance was "about the size of an ordinary knitting needle," with about one-tenth of an inch bore. The first engine that was connected to the generator was a reaction wheel with two arms, each 2.5 inches long. There is no data on the size of the openings through which the vaporic substance escaped in contrary directions in the air, thus causing the arms to revolve.75

  The reaction wheel was screwed to the reservoir and was put into rotation at high velocity by the manipulation of two cocks. After two minutes, the reaction wheel was removed and connections were made to a small beam engine, which was rotated at 400 revolutions. After three minutes, the reaction wheel was once again rotated. After a minute, the wheel was stopped, and the gaseous fluid was allowed to escape against a candle flame and blow it out. Then the small beam engine was run again for a few turns. Two minutes later the reaction wheel was run again, then the experiments were concluded. The entire experiment lasted 17 minutes. Clocker, who constructed both the multiplicator and the engine, described the engine as having cylinders of three-inch bore and
three-inch stroke, with a flywheel of 200 pounds weight, which revolved at 300 revolutions per minute.

  It was also stated that the development of the force caused no noise and that no chemical compounds were used or could have been used without detection. Neither heat, galvanism nor electricty was used. The water was "as pure after it left the multiplicator as it was when introduced to the same." The gas had neither smell nor taste and would not ignite. When the multiplicator was dismantled, it showed no traces of chemicals or explosive substances.76

  Collier then wrote a report for the New York group, which included John J. Cisco, a wealthy banker and former United States Sub-Treasurer in New York; Charles G. Franklyn of the Cunard Line of steamships; Charles H. Haswell, the author of Haswell's tables and a leading authority among mechanicians — who already had visited Keely's workshop; Henry C. Sargeant, president of the Ingersoll Rock Drill Company; W.D. Hatch and Enos T. Throop of the Hatch Lithographic Company; John S. Smith of Baker, Smith & Co., the large manufacturers of steam heating apparatus; and William B. Meeker, a banker.77

  Collier met with this powerful group of wealthy bankers, merchants and businessmen in the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York. With Sidney Dillon in the chair, they listened patiently to Collier's report, which had also been made in writing. Collier told his audience of Keely's claims to transform soundwaves in energies exceeding those of a hurricane. This new physical force, when properly applied, would generate immense powers. Keely also claimed that he would be able in a short time to take a train of cars from the Pennsylvania Railroad depot at 32nd and Market Streets to Jersey City in 60 minutes, with a power that could be stored in a teacup or in the hollow of his hand. With as much ease, he would also send a Cunarder across the Atlantic in 48 hours. With a bucket or a barrel of his "etheric force" he might move a continent! All the glories of the age of steam... "would be obsolete long before the close of the century."78

  Collier convinced the New York businessmen, bankers and orthodox scientists, for the day after his lecture he was to receive a check for $10,000 for the purchase of stock of the Keely Motor Company and to pay the debts that he had incurred in the construction of his machine. The New York group was also given an option for $40,000 more of the stock. The option was kept open until Collier's report was confirmed. In the meantime Collier negotiated a sale of the rights for six New England states for an option of $50,000, the purchasers to invest half a million dollars to introduce the invention, and then to pay another half a million dollars. For the benefit of both groups of investors, a public exhibition was given in Philadelphia that was attended by 300 persons, including engineers and scientists from all parts of the country. The day after this exhibition, the investors handed over their checks for $40,000 and $50,000. Collier had now raised capital of$100,000.79

  Yet another variant of this important phase has it that there were two meetings of the wealthy group, and that Keely contacted Collier. When Keely succeeded in again producing this dry vapor, he called Collier's attention to it. Keely had built a machine which he called a multiplicator, the forerunner of his liberator and disintegrator. After getting an expert draftsman to make drawings of all its parts, Collier called a meeting of capitalists at the Gilsey House in New York in the fall of 1874 and laid the matter before them, telling them what he had personally witnessed. The result was that $50,000 was "almost immediately" subscribed, and Boston parties also took $50,000 worth of stock. Sidney Dillon presided over the second meeting of the group.80

  Keely's demonstration on November 10 sparked the controversy regarding his claims that would mark his career for the rest of his life. From that date on Keely was to be a public character, supported in his livelihood by those who believed in the reality of his claims and the grandiose future of his inventions based on his discovery.

  Before the demonstration in 1874, the general public at large had heard nothing of Keely's generator, although, as we have seen, it is suggested by Repetti and others that prior to this time, the Philadelphians did hear rumors of Keely and his Globe Motor as far back as 1865.

  This 1874 demonstration probably accounts for the fact that most contemporary and later sources date his discovery and subsequent invention of the Keely Motor around 1874, and not three years earlier, when Keely apparently constructed his Globe Motor, obtained a patent on his flywheel and applied for a second patent in 1872. Why he never resolved this issue is one of the countless minor mysteries that riddle his life and career.

  In 1874,81 Collier founded the Keely Motor Company together with Keely, his workman Beckel who "had worked for Keely a number of years," and Sergeant.82 Sergeant had been skeptical at first, but after a visit in July that year to Keely's workshop at the request of unidentified parties, "some of whom were pecuniarily interested in the discovery," he changed his mind. The interested parties desired a careful investigation to be made, and asked him to go to Keely's workshop as an expert. Sergeant found Keely in his workshop, being "very jealous of his secret. He would not for a long time admit me to see what he was doing that I might investigate the matter. It was only after a strong pressure had been brought to bear on him that he consented to do as much as let me see him work, and when this was at length accomplished by the intervention of his friends who were interested in the invention... so great was his anxiety to keep the secret that the very stockholders were kept out of the room while we were together, and their counsil coming to the closed doors knocked, and was answered by Keely, who would not admit him." Keely not only demonstrated the enormous pressure that he could obtain with his device, but also let Sergeant handle the device himself: "At length he allowed me to work his machinery myself, and I found I could do so as he did; and the machinery for producing this vapor is so simple that a child eight years old could work it. Deception was impossible under such circumstances."83 Sergeant's reference to "stockholders" is an indication that already-interested persons had begun to invest money in Keely's invention before the foundation of the Keely Motor Company.

  When the Keely Motor Company was established, it began selling stock to trusting shareholders throughout the United States. Not only businessmen, speculators and rich investors bought stock; there were thousands of stockholders in Philadelphia and other cities, who were clerks, shopgirls, widows and orphans, "all looking for the day when the increased value of their stock would make them independent."84

  The headquarters of the Keely Motor Company were at Collier's office. The purpose of the company was to fund the research, construction and subsequent manufacture and marketing of the Keely Motor. But its organizers received stock without paying for it, and about three-fourths of the whole amount was thus given away by Keely. He kept about one-seventh, and "was cheated out of a good portion of that before he had gone far."85

  When the by-laws of the Keely Motor Company were published a year later, the title page proudly announced that it had amassed a capital of $1,000,000 in 20,000 shares, each with a value of $50.86

  The company would ultimately have a capital of $5,000,000.87 This money went to Keely's salary, which was $200 a month, the construction of his workshop and the building of other demonstration devices. Unscrupulous stock speculators were to cause Keely great difficulties however, and Keely saw very little of the proceeds. Nevertheless, he was now a public figure, and articles about him and his mysterious invention, or one should say discovery, began to appear at regular intervals in various newspapers and magazines. The Keely history was launched.

  2

  Where the Molecules Dance The First Decade

  "A molecule of steel, a molecule of gas, a molecule of brain matter are all of the one primeval substance — the Ether. "

  Clara Bloomfield-Moore

  Keely and his Discoveries, Aerial Navigation, 1893

  "What ether is, no one knows. "

  Thomas H. Burgoyne,

  The Light of Egypt, 1900

  With the funds obtained through the sale of stock, Keely began the construction of a much larger mult
iplicator with which to decompose or disintegrate water, and with the vapor obtained he promised to run an engine. The multiplicator became a huge structure, weighting 80,000 lbs. and costing $60,000. Although the device was crude and unsatisfactory, the machine served another purpose; demonstrations were given to "satisfy popular clamor and boom the stock of the company." Its shares rose considerably and were bought and sold in the stock markets throughout the United States. Keely was by now one of the most talked-of men in the country, and thousands of people visited his workshop at 1422 N. Twentieth Street, admirers as well as scoffers and sensation seekers.1

  But with fame came scorn; with belief, disbelief and rebuttal. Keely would meet his first major setbacks in 1875. Scientific American published a scathing article in which it was alleged that he and Collier were nothing more than frauds, "whose chief purpose appears to be the wriggling of money out of silly people." Keely replied in writing that he had by, "the introduction of atmospheric air into my machine, a limited quantity of natural water direct from the hydrant at no greater than the hydrant pressure, and the machine itself, which is simply a mechanical structure" produced, "by a simple manipulation of the machine, a vaporic substance, at one expulsion of a volume of ten gallons, having an elastic energy of 10,000 pounds to the square inch."2

  Collier wrote a long letter in return, including several statements by witnesses of Keely's demonstrations. Amongst these was the statement from G. F. Glocker, an employee in charge of the tool room for 26 years at the Port Richmond Iron Works in Philadelphia. Glocker had constructed the multiplicator for Keely "which he operated on the 10th of November, 1874." Furthermore, Glocker stated mat "in said multiplicator, there are no secret chambers or recesses in which chemicals or compressed air could be contained, and no spaces not fully accessible to a stream of water passed through the apparatus; further, that, in said apparatus, there are no pistons or moving parts other than valves. I have also constructed for Mr. Keely a vertical direct-acting double cylinder engine, having cylinders of 3 inches bore and 3 inches stroke, and a flywheel 24 inches in diameter and 4 inches face, weighing 2,000 pounds, which engine I have seen rotated at a speed of not less than 300 revolutions per minute with vapor generated in said multiplicator."3