The Brennan Gyroscopic Mono-Rail (1909)

[Bruce Tuncks]

Good stuff Onetrack. Personally, I am amazed at the number of perpetual motion machines there are on the net. Is teaching basic stuff in such a poor state that the younger generation know nothing?

The best perpetual motion machine fraud I have ever heard of was a clock sealed in a vacuum box. It was powered by the minute flexing of the box base as the atmospheric pressure changed.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I just looked it up...  it's the Beverly clock, and it is at the dept of physics in Dunedin NZ. Apparently it has really stopped as a result of long periods of static air pressure, but apparently this is ignored and they say it has gone for many years without winding up.

[Dax]

Many years ago (decades), when we were doing a gig in the sth tablelands of NSW. Got talking to a bloke who said he had created a perpetual motion machine when we were talking about power supplies for remote places. At the time was building a stone house for my family in the Snowies, had no power and made a generator with an old motormower engine and a small car generator. Which was reasonably successful but in the end the engine was not powerful enough to last that long.

 

The next day we drove out to his place and he took me into a shed, his invention consisted of 3 flywheels, a small one which drove a bigger one and a huge one he got of an off steam engine. The small one was driven by a little electric motor and it's momentum drove the bigger one which drove the huge one which had attached a car alternator. He told me the motor used less than half the energy created by the alternator and watched it run for over an hour, connected to a set of ex telstra batteries which powered his house. He said if I could get hold of some flywheels, he would help me set it up as he was an engineer and did have a really big cool workshop.

 

As we were in the beginning of a 6 week tour, forgot all about if tor a few years as family and an expanding business took over. Did go back there once when we were in the area but they had moved and the people there know nothing about it, claiming the bloke has mysteriously died and the family had moved. No idea what happened to his machine and don't know whether it really worked, but if I came across 3 flywheels that fit the scenario, would give it a go, but reckon friction would finally bring it to rest.

[Bruce Tuncks]

It's a test of whether you really believe science or not, methinks. A perpetual motion machine would be wonderful, but I reckon its impossible.