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|  File Name      : PHILLY95.ASC     |  Online Date     :  10/09/95          |

|  Contributed by : Jerry W.Decker   |  Dir Category    :  KEELY             |

|  From           : KeelyNet BBS     |  DataLine        :  (214) 324-3501    |

|           KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187         |

|        A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences      |

|              InterNet email keelynet@ix.netcom.com (Jerry Decker)          |

|      Files also available at Bill Beaty's http://www.eskimo.com/~billb     |

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

The following is a description of a recent trip I made to visit John Keely's

lab site and do some historical research..........................>>> Jerry

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I recently had an opportunity to be in the Rochester, New York area for a two

week training seminar related to my job. Since the seminar was scheduled

during the weekdays, I was free for the weekend, so decided to drive down

to Philadelphia to see what damage I could do.



John Worrell Keely, as you might suspect, is the patron of KeelyNet and I have

long wanted to have the chance to visit his old stomping grounds and see what,

if anything, I could turn up.



The 1st week of class ended Friday afternoon on the 7th of October, I drove

down to Philadelphia that evening and arrived about midnite with no clue as to

where I was in the city.  I ended up over near Market Street in decidedly

residential surroundings and was quite surprised by the very large numbers of

people walking around.  There seemed to be block parties with lots of young

folk having a good time.  Eventually I found a Best Western motel off Route 1,

but they were full up, so I ended up in a sleazy motel that still got me for

$50 for a one night stay.



Saturday morning, I checked out of the sleaze motel, bought a MapsCo type book

of the Philly area and found the Franklin Institute address and several of the

older library locations.  A bit of driving and I ended up down around

Independence Hall and swung left to find the Franklin Institute.  It was a

phenomenally large building and was outfitted as a science museum.  They also

had an OmniMax theater and another activity, but I wanted to check out their

library and science exhibits to see if there was anything related to Keely.



The information attendant said there WAS a library of Franklin Institute

material but this was not generally available to the public.  However, it

could be studied by appointment.  So, that is an option for another visit.



Since it was about 11AM, I bought a ticket for the science museum and found

several entertaining displays, one being a very large Rube Goldberg

arrangement of golf balls and a maze of rails down which these balls moved.

In their motion, they were redirected and otherwise deflected to produce all

sorts of actions you would expect of the cartoons drawn by Goldberg.



An electric show was going on which involved the usual static electricity,

except this was generated from a glass drum, spun at high velocity to produce

a minor spark.  The rest of the experiments were classic and not really unique

enough to warrant more time spent watching, so I wandered over to look at the

many antique radio circuits.



Eventually, it was time to go upstairs where I came on a demonstration in the

Mechanics and physics section relating to 'Perpetual Motion' machines.  They

had several of the more common devices, but most intriguing of all was a model

of the Redheffer machine which was proven to be operated by a twisting cord

hidden within the machine supports.  The model was of wood and very well made.

(See files PMOTION1, PMOTION2 and PMOTION3 on KeelyNet for details of various

perpetual motion claims including Redheffer in PMOTION2)



Most disturbing to me, NO mention of Keely or his role in either this section

or the acoustic section.  Note that Keely specifically DENIED that he had EVER

claimed to have developed a 'perpetual motion' machine, but many people still

misrepresent the facts because they have not read his writings, what little we

have been able to find.



At any rate, I think it is worth putting together a packet of material

from KeelyNet which might induce the Franklin Institute planners to add Keely

to the display.  I have little doubt they have much more information on the

subject because Charles Bloomfield Moore and his wife, Clara, both were

HEAVILY involved as patrons of the Franklin Institute for many years.



A bit more wandering around and it seemed I could better spend my time in the

Philadelphia Free Library located across the street from the Institute.  It

was established in 1922 and had an extensive microfilm section. This microfilm

quest included several hours of perusing the Philadelphia Inquirer and the

Philadelphia Press from the 1872 through 1898 time period.  The papers are

very tedious to wade through and I found nothing of real interest beyond one

short mention.  The library closed about 5PM, so I found another hotel and

checked in.  A two hour drive to familiarize myself with the city was very

interesting and showed the many cultural sights around the city.  But I was

here for purposes which were not that of the tourist, so decided to get some

early sleep.



The next morning (Sunday), I checked out and since it was such a beautiful

day, figured it would be a perfect time to check out Keely's lab location.

The library opened at 1PM, so I cruised around looking for 1420 North 20th

Street.  I found it to be in a very distressed part of the city, with the

buildings dilapidated and falling apart.  Dale Pond had come to the site

a few years earlier and told me the lab site had been paved over and was now a

parking lot, and in a rough section of town to boot.



A church was located around 1433 and only one house had an address, 1411 with

the name Darden under the numbers.  I kept driving around the block, looking

for a parking lot, but nothing of the kind was found. You can imagine the

looks I got, a white guy, cruising around these fallen buildings on a Sunday

morning, but I was on a mission from God....<g>.



Finally, I just pulled over to the curb, got out my two disposable cameras and

walked down the street.  One of the cameras was a regular 135 and the other a

panoramic.  The lot that looked most promising, got several photos taken of

it, but I took pictures of just about every lot in the area, since I was

unsure where the laboratory/workshop had actually stood at that time.



This all took place from about 11AM to about 12:30PM, so there were people

driving by from the nearby church.  As luck or guidance, depending on your

point of view, would have it, a car drove up to the house address across the

street and a black man and woman got out of their car and began taking things

from the trunk.  I walked over, excused myself for disturbing them and asked

if they could tell me where 1420 North 20th Street was.  The man appeared to

be unwilling to speak with me, but the lady was very nice and said she and her

husband lived at 1411 and the empty lot aross the street was 1420.



The lady said there used to be a 2 story building there, (which her husband

later corrected to 3 stories) but it burned down about 3 years ago.  I asked

if she had ever heard of Keely or that a workshop and laboratory used to be

there but she had never heard of it.  She was trying to get her packages

transferred to the house, so I thanked her for the assistance and information

and went over to the lot to soak in the amibience and take some pictures.



I wandered around there for about 30 minutes, all the while aware of the

possibility of being robbed or otherwise accosted, but checking out the site

was more important to me.  About 11:30, I noticed the man across the street

was standing in his door watching me.  He began walking across the street and

said he never had heard of any laboratory in this area.



Since he seemed to be a nice fellow, I explained what I was looking for and he

said yes, this was in fact, 1420, that all even numbered buildings were on

this side of the street and that the building still standing was 1416.  The

lot I was standing on was therefore 1418 and/or 1420.  Next to this lot was a

small concrete paved lot about 20 foot wide.  In the rear, it had a fallen

brick wall in a U-shape, still standing end supporting an iron I-beam to hold

up a decayed roof.



So this must have been the parking lot Dale talked about.  From the Scientific

American investigation of the lab on Keely's death, we know there was a

basement and pictures of the lab showed it to be much larger than the paved

lot building.



Turns out, the fellow who I was talking with was named Steve Darden. He was

born right around the corner, and has lived in this immediate area for all of

his 43 years.  Like I said, Steve turned out to be a very nice fellow and was

very helpful.



He says the 3 story building used to have sheet metal panels on the windows

and had really burned down about 5 years ago.  That would be about 1990.  He

said the site was all collapsed and quite a mess, with some fellow dumping

garbage on it.  Only about 3 days earlier, the city had sent out a grader

to bulldoze the lot of much of the trash.  (very coincidental to my trip,

don't you think?).  Steve said he had to go but offered advice that I should

take care because some of the young boys in the neighborhood might be tempted

to rob me.  He then left and I hung around for about 15 minutes more.



Steve said the building that existed on the 1418 site was unusual because it

had a kind of balcony in the back, making the building not quite as long as

his house at 1411.  As we were trying to positively identify the site of the

lab, Steve pointed out that there had been a walkway or easement between the

buildings, as still existed between the still standing 1416 and the chain link

fence on the adjacent lot, now a wrecking yard for old automobiles.



The remains of the building with the paved lot was most likely 1420 and was

definitely attached to the now burned out building at 1418.  The puzzle is

that the space between 1416 (the still standing building) and the paved lot

building is MORE than twice the width of 1416.  Steve said some of these lots

were double lots, having only one address.  You can clearly see where the

paved lot building was attached to the building on the south side of it.



Since I have no circa 1870-1900 pictures or description of the building which

housed the lab, I am of the opinion that there were two buildings that made up

1420, the paved lot and the building which was once attached to it.  This will

have to be checked out when I have more time to do the research unless someone

else helps out or might have some details.



Something of interest, there is a large broken concrete lump, almost like a

partially flattened bubble about 40 feet from the road and closer to the paved

lot building.  It is about 10 foot in diameter, at least what is exposed, and

the sides roll off as if partially collapsed.  Wish I'd had a metal detector

as I wanted to think the 6600 pound iron sphere might be under there and if

you know the story about the iron sphere, it makes you wonder what is mght be

there under this concrete. (see DANART1 on KeelyNet)



You might ask what is the purpose of going to an old building lot where the

building has been destroyed?  Because, it was where Keely did his experiments

and demonstrations and it won't be there forever.  I guess it is kind of a

Mecca for me, as close as I've been able to get to Keely beyond pictures and

text.  As a sort of touchstone, I picked out a brick to take home....god, if

that brick could talk.



I left the Keely lab site about 12:30PM and drove over to the Philadelphia

Free Libarary and waited for it to open at 1PM.  I went through ALL the

Lippincott magazines from 1871 through 1898 and copied all articles related to

Keely.  Though I have not read them all yet, they look almost identical to

various chapters of Bloomfield Moores book, 'Keely's Discoveries'.



While looking through the microfilm reels, I met a lady who was investigating

antique beer bottles as produced in early Philadelphia.  As we talked, I

explained what I was looking for and we got into a discussion of alternative

science approaches.  When the topic went to gravity, she said she was a

professional astronomer and she felt that many of the 'alternative' science

researchers were confused and needed to study science much more seriously.



She said those who had not studied advanced physics were not in any position

to be doing experiments that confused not only themselves but other people as

well.  I countered that Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday and a host of other

researchers and great discoverers had not studied 'advanced physics', yet

their simple experiments and observations led to the developments from which

all of our technology and science had sprung.  She looked at me with a

hopeless look and sidestepped the entire argument from that point on.



We talked for a few minutes more, but I could tell she had decided I must be

some kind of a nutcase, probably because I don't buy into the church of

academia with all their vested interests and closed minds.



Before she left, I suggested she keep an eye out in the future for amazing

technologies to spring from these 'alternative' science experimenters, natural

philosophers as they were once called, because they learned by observing

nature, not JUST from books, theories and other crystallized certainties that

lead many to mistakenly believe that our 'laws' are immutable.



The library closed at 5PM, I had finished the Lippincott material and went to

the Science section looking for 'New Science Review', 'The Arena' and 'Review

of Reviews', none of which they had.  It was now 4:30PM and I could get into

no more mischief in a scant 30 minutes, so chose to drive back to Rochester,

arriving about 10PM and ready for the next week of the seminar.



But I have my own BRICK, pictures (the best of which I will scan in later) and

some files that will be added to KeelyNet.  So how was your weekend?

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Just as a bit of curiosa, one of the FE (field engineers) I was attending the

seminar with, said he was told a couple of years ago, that a Mike Douglas TV

talk show had a most unusual interview.



He was told the interview took place around 1974 and that the tape of the show

had been taken by the military after the show aired.  It seems a young boy had

been experimenting with paper airplanes, you know, the kind you fold out of

paper and throw into the air.



He apparently stumbled on a particular shape which when flown, would remain

flying through the air, without falling, and as long as it didn't crash into

something.



As Frank remembered it, the boy folded one of these paper airplanes on the

show and threw it.  The plane did indeed stay flying all around the studio,

riding air currents as if seeking them out, until it hit a wall and crashed.



So, if you know some way we can look up this tape, the kid shows how it was

folded and it might lead to some serious changes in aerodynamics.  I can't

imagine a geometry which would be capable of seeking out air currents, though

maybe some kind of temperature differential system might work...where cool air

indicates currents and warm air stillness, so if the plane captured the cool

air on the front and channeled it to a lower pressure, warm and still zone

towards the rear, a sufficient thrust could be provided to keep the craft

airborne.



Think about it and if you come up with anything, please share it with all us

KeelyNetters, thanks!..............................................>>> Jerry

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crete lump, almost like a

partially flattened bubble about 40 feet from the road and closer to