Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely
Page 18
Another character, J. Ransom Bridge from Philadelphia, came forward and said that, "When Mr. T. Burton Kinraide took charge of Keely's laboratory one of the first discoveries was how Mr. Keely did his experiments. He could vary the initial performance in a dozen ways, but the principle was always the same."96
The statements of Hill, Smith and Bridge should have settled the matter, but it didn't. Strangely, Kinraide vehemently disagreed with Hill's statement. Kinraide was "greatly surprised that Mr. Hill had written anything against the Keely motor, and refused to say anything" until he saw Mr. Hill, as he doubted the validity of the report. He was unable to find Mr. Hill, but consulted his lawyer instead. On the advice of his counsel he declined to give out anything further than this statement, which was carefully written out: "If, as you inform me, Mr. Hill has made a pretended expose of the Keely motor in the New York Journal, and used my name in connection therewith, he has done so without my knowledge or assent, and I consider it a gross outrage and a dastardly breach of faith."97
Bridge answered that the knowledge of the fraud was "imparted to him without solicitation or request," and that he made no promise of secrecy and was under no obligation to keep silent. He also claimed that, "In addition to the evidences of fraud which I saw in Mr. Keely's laboratory in Philadelphia I also have seen since Mr. Keely's death the most important of the experiments performed by Mr. Kinraid (sic) himself. Mr. Kinraid told both Mr. Hill and myself that plain evidences of fraud covered every experiment done by Mr. Keely and as we had ocular demonstrations of the tricks we could not doubt the statement."98
Be that as it may, puzzled and alarmed stockholders told a reporter that they wanted to determine whether or not Mr. Kinraide believed that Keely's work was fraudulent. If he thought so, they wanted the machines returned to Philadelphia. And indeed they were puzzled by a certain ambiguity: "If it was known that the Keely machines were fraudulent, why were they taken on to Boston, and why was it held out that it would take Mr. Kinraide time to probe into the matter, and that it might take a year?"99
The same day, Thomas Collier, who the year before had so boldly claimed that he could build a machine similar to Keely's devices, and Rudolf, the man who built Keely's latest engine, visited Kinraide's laboratory in order to "satisfy themselves that the Keely machines are in the same condition as when they left the laboratory in this city."100
Rudolph, on his return from Boston, said that he would be going back "to continue the investigation set on foot by the directors." More could not be learned from him, as he did "not intend to give out any information, as it was the decision of the whole committee that we should say nothing in advance."101
On February 29, at a meeting of the Board held at the company's office at 913 Walnut St., Collier told the assembly that "the motor is now at Jamaica Plain near Boston, in the keeping of T.B. Kinraide: ...we will follow the events at Jamaica Plain with interest. "102 So at that time, the part of Keely's equipment that was shipped to Kinraide was still in the cave in Jamaica Plain near Boston, and we must assume that the rest of Keely's devices were still located in the vaults in Philadelphia.103
For four months, everybody, including the newspapers, was silent about Kinraide and his experiments with Keely's engines, and the status of the devices in Philadelphia. On July 16, 1899, the cloak of silence would be lifted, but under very unusual circumstances. The event announced its coming in a short notice in Scientific American: "Mr. Kinraide, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., has abandoned all work on the Keely motor, and will ship back to the Keely Motor Company all the machines and manuscripts left by Keely. Mr. Kinraide was on terms of some intimacy with Keely, and it was thought that he might discover, if possible, some virtue in the motor. The exposure of the frauds which Keely perpetrated in his Philadelphia laboratory, which we have already illustrated, has helped to induce Mr. Kinraide to abandon the whole matter."104
This statement offers more puzzlement than clarification. Just when one is about to frustratingly dismiss the whole manuscript-affair out of pure lack of further information, it appears from the article that Kinraide did have manuscripts left by Keely. Were these Keely's mysterious diaries which were, as a newspaper had written, given to Kinraide by his widow? And why would Kinraide abandon the work due to the news of the alleged exposure by Moore and his team? Kinraide disagreed with Hill's version of the confusing tale, even going so far as to consult his lawyer. And how about his experiments with Keely's engines? The eagerly awaited report finally came on July 16, almost two months after the allegation that Kinraide would ship the engines back to Philadelphia.
The circumstances in which Kinraide delivered his report were unusual. First, his report was not delivered by himself as one would have expected, but by Clarence B. Moore, the son of Bloomfield-Moore. And second, he did not obtain the report directly from Kinraide. Moore's informant was "a well-known gentleman" from Philadelphia who had invested "heavily in the stock of the alleged motor, and who recently paid Mr. Kinraide a visit at his laboratory." Kinraide told this anonymous informant that Keely had not discovered a new force, and demonstrated his claim "to the satisfaction of his visitor." Kinraide made this informant promise not to make public the information given to him, but he did, "however, receive permission to report the result of the investigation to Mr. Moore."105 This is strange, since Kinraide could have known that Moore, whose antagonistic views about Keely were well known at that time, would head straight for the press.
And so Moore did. He told a reporter that "Mr. T.B. Kinraide, of Jamaica Plain, Boston, on whom the mantle of Keely was supposed to have fallen, and who actually did receive the Keely motor mechanism early in January, admits that the motor was a fraud, that the machinery was moved by well-known forces, and that the duplication of Keely's 'demonstrations' is a simple matter. When Mr. Kinraide was reported, a short time ago, to have returned the Keely motor machinery to Philadelphia, the inevitable conclusion was forced on any one conversant with the history of the Keely motor that Mr. Kinraide, having discovered the nature of the fraud, washed his hands of the whole affair. It seems however, that Mr. Kinraide did not send the apparatus back, but got to the heart of the delusion by a careful study of the motors in hand."106
According to the unnamed informant, during this "careful study" Kinraide set up the machine room in his cave at Jamaica Plain "almost exactly after the manner of Keely's, suggesting that he had begun on the premise that he must reproduce the whole thing if desirous of success." Then, Kinraide walked around the machines for some time, and "at last he turned and smilingly remarked that he might excel Keely at his own trickery if he had the same fluency of words as the latter."
Kinraide applied compressed air, hydraulic pressure and a powerful spring, and even a magnet, concealed in the wall. The hydraulic pressure and compressed air came from "hidden sources." With the help of all this, Kinraide obtained the same results. "One of the most unique pieces of mechanism I found in Philadelphia," Kinraide reportedly said, "was a spring to wind using a key as big as a crowbar." With the proper winding the spring would be able to "run for three or four days," and produces enormous energy. Kinraide also showed how he could start the hydraulic and compressed air pressure by picking up a violin, after which the "instrument wheels began to revolve," because he touched "a bulb," hidden under the floor at the same time.
It took the unnamed informant nearly eight hours in Kinraide's laboratory, "and when the Philadelphian emerged he was convinced that he had lost his investment." Kinraide repeated that those who would produce evidence of being "victimized," could obtain an invitation to visit Kinraide's laboratory at Jamaica Plain and "see the whole thing disclosed." Kinraide refused entrance to reporters, "for it has been decreed that, as far as the public is concerned, the Keely affair can rest in peace and the Keely victims have their sorrows to themselves."107
This, of course, was a strange thing as well, since this effectively barred all further verification of Kinraide's claims. It also made no sense, since everyth
ing was published in the newspapers anyway. A newspaper remarked that, "The announcement of Mr. Kinraide's present conviction is all well enough so far as it goes, but in the premises Mr. Kinraide certainly owes it to the world of science to make a full and complete report on his examination of the Keely machinery and his reasons for his belief that the motor is to be classed among the great frauds of the present century. In this issue Mr. Kinraide has not only a responsibility to himself but to the public. So long as he kept quiet after he discovered the fraudulent character of the motor so long was he, doubtless unintentionally, aiding in maintaining a delusion. So it seems he has spoken his mind freely but privately. This is where he errs. He should go on public record."
It was also remarked that, although others, scientists and the like, had already made their minds up that Keely was a fraud, Kinraide had one advantage; "he and not they had the machinery to work over... .For this reason a brochure entitled 'Kinraide on Keely' ought to be issued. To keep quiet is not scientific and savors of disingenousness."
It was also suggested that Keely's machinery should, if possible, be sent to a museum, "in Philadelphia preferably."108 And since this suggestion was published almost two months after the statement in Scientific American that Kinraide would ship Keely's devices back to the Keely Motor Company, we may conclude that no such thing occurred until that time. It seems that in the end, nothing came of this. The newspapers fell silent once more, and after a while, lost all interest. And although Scientific American had announced the return of Keely's engines to Philadelphia, no Philadelphia newspaper in the months to come mentioned their delivery to that city.
Several months before, an intriguing notice appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper in which Keely's brother, J.A. Keely of New York, told a reporter that the secret was known to "an inventor and electrician of Asbuy Park," a Richard Croker, to whom it was shown five years previously upon an oath that he would not divulge it "as long as Keely was alive." Keely's brother was now "negotiating with this man for the manufacture of the motor."109 Nothing more was published in the coming months and years. Keely's brother once again wandered off into the pages of history, and we hear no more of him or the electrician of Asbury Park.
The whereabouts of Keely's engines which were shipped to a cave somewhere on an estate on Jamaica Plain and the heavier ones that were stored in Philadelphia were lost in the mist of time, and there the mystery remains. Conventional contemporary sources offer no further explanation.
It is not known what happened to devices such as the huge aerial propeller, on which Keely worked as late as 1895. His aerial propeller, for instance (a description of this huge construction will follow in chapter 8) is strangely absent in contemporary accounts relating to the removal of his engines. No mention is made of either the destruction or the removal of the aerial propeller. Taking the sudden loss of interest of the conventional contemporary sources into account, we might speculate that Keely's devices were dispersed as time went by, and subsequent generations lost all curiosity in his incomprehensible inventions when even the memory of Keely himself became a thing of the past.
But as we will see in the chapter on Keely's connections with the occult undercurrents — and there were many — it is from those quarters that at least one, although an altogether very different, solution to this mystery is offered. For while conventional sources such as the contemporary newspapers were quite satisfied with repeating Moore's allegations that Keely was a fraud, and investigative journalism does not seem to have been a virtue in the Keely history, it is in the occult quarters that a very different story was told. There it is alluded to that interested parties, who went to a great deal of effort to remain anonymous, did see the enormous significance of Keely's discoveries and his engines, and took great care of collecting and hiding his devices from public view.
There is a suspicious incident that may give the viewpoint of these occult quarters some weight. In 1910, Astor — who fifteen years before had wanted to finance Keely to the extent of several millions — was reported to have docked a "mysterious craft" in the Harlem River. A newspaper stated that the craft "seemed to embody an airship with a practical watercraft."110 As reporters were kept away and no other information seems to have surfaced on this subject, we can only wonder if some of Keely's equipment may have survived to the extent that it was employed or tested by Astor on his strange craft.111
The whereabouts of only two of Keely's original devices are known today, which is but a mere fraction, considering the 20 large crates that went to Kinraide's cave at Jamaica Plain, and the devices that were in storage in Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute had one,112 which was sold in the 1970s,113 and currently there is a device on display in the American Precision Museum in Vermont. It is labeled "Keely's Etheric Force Main Stator." This engine was donated around 1984 to the museum.114 The device is quite useless for research purposes, as it lacks certain parts and is incomplete.
It is also a mystery that of all people in the world, Moore acted as the spokesperson for Kinraide. For it was he who had at one time battled over his father's will with his mother. He had always been antagonistic towards Keely, and had a substantial role in what has become known as Keely's exposure.
6
Anatomy of an Exposure
"That Keely used the ordinary forces of nature, electrical, magnetic, chemical, pneumatic, hydrostatic, in his experiments has long been charged, but never surely proved. "
"The Keely Mystery," The Press, January 9, 1899
"There was danger that he would go down in history as a mystery. There is now no risk of that."
"The Keely Motor Exposure"
Public Ledger and Daily Transcript, January 30, 1899
"Keely's discovery would lead to a knowledge of one of the most occult secrets, a secret which can never be allowed to fall into the hands of the masses."
H.P. Blavatsky,
The Secret Doctrine, 1888
During Keely's life, the accusations of an enormous fraud constantly loomed over his head as reflected by the endless quarreling and viewpoints in the contemporary press. But there was always the enigmatic inventor himself, ready with an explanation or another of his stupendous demonstrations. There was also the Keely Motor Company; its members had invested large sums in the whole affair, and it must be taken into account that they had every interest in refuting the accusations. But with Keely dead and the Keely Motor Company in disarray, for it seemed that he was influential in keeping the company in a harmonious state at least on the outside, the apparent discontent now fractured the company and rendered it impotent.
So when the machinations were about to develop that led to the tragedy, there was nothing that could oversee the coming investigations that led to his alleged exposure. And it must be said, in all fairness to Keely, that those who investigated the matter after his death were prejudiced from the start.
All began harmlessly enough, and it seems, by accident. On January 6, a large cast iron sphere was discovered hidden under the flooring of Keely's workshop. "Mechanics who examined the strange contrivance are at a loss to know for what it was used." Hopes sprang up, for it could be that this sphere was the ultimate key to Keely's secret. The sphere was located underneath the floor of the main workshop, buried in the ground, and special efforts seemed to have been made to conceal it. It weighed over two tons and rested on a solid stone foundation. The object was hollow with "protruding brass connections that were evidently joined at one time to brass pipes that ran beneath the floor and led to different parts of the building." One unusual detail was reported: "When struck by a hammer the sphere emits a series of strange sounds."
The sphere was discovered when the owner of the building, Daniel Dory of 1716 Spring Garden put his men at work cleaning out the building. A short time before this, the Keely Motor Company had already relocated the motor, tools and machinery to another part of the city, and nothing was left, or so they thought. It was while they were engaged in doing the work that one of t
hem accidentally broke through the flooring and discovered the strange piece of iron. The owner of the building said he was willing to allow the people interested in the motor to make a thorough investigation.
But apparently the cleaning up delivered more accidental discoveries: "The floor of the workroom contains trap doors which are fitted to their places so tightly that they can be lifted only with a chisel. There is no cellar under the workroom and the purpose of the traps is a mystery. Another curious fact concerning the interior of the laboratory is that the floor of a small addition to the workroom, which was built in later years by the inventor, is raised three feet above the main door of the building, thus leaving a hidden space, the contents and uses of which are not known."
There was one man though, who knew about the sphere and the traps and the false floor. This man was Jefferson Thomas, of 1932 Mt. Vernon Street, who was for many years vice president of the Keely Motor Company. He laughed when he spoke about them in spite of the fact that he "had the grip." Thomas claimed that "The trap door was Mr. Keely's coal bin.... Dorey, the landlord, came to me last night surrounded with an atmosphere of mystery and informed me of the finding of the sphere. I dispelled the mystery. That sphere, which, by the way, weighs about 6,000 pounds, was used by Mr. Keely something over ten years ago in his experiments in levitation."1 Perhaps Thomas' statement may help to explain one of many claims that Keely was a fraud, which was published 18 years before. At that time, it was written that his secret was "nothing more nor less than the key of the door to the cellar underneath the room where Mr. Keely exhibits his motor."2
A day after Thomas' statement to the press, more people came forward to explain the existence of the enormous sphere. One of them was Schuellerman. He also knew of its existence and said grumbling that, "I have known seven men to be hung from a single pine limb in Montana for crimes smaller than that committed by the reporter who told the story of the iron globe."3