WHAT HE WILL DO WITH FIVE DROPS OF WATER.
NYT - PHILADELPHIA, March 24, 1880.- Interest has been somewhat renewed in the Keely motor, caused by the statements of Mr. Keely himself that he will be ready in about six weeks to put his new vibratory engine to practical use. Instead of the great cumbersome machinery which he had heretofore, there are small, neatlooking objects which he call generators and engines. He claims now to have full control of the vapor which contains such great power, and can do with it as he sees fit. "About two years ago," said Mr. Keely, "I abandoned the idea of applying my vaporic power to the ordinary piston engines, and by accident found that a new engine of a different sort was needed. It is not an invention, and I do not claim to be an inventor, but a discoverer. I am so confident now that I have succeeded, that I will stake all I have in the world on the results to be accomplished within the next three months." The vibratory engine which he has completed at his workshop in Twentieth-street, near Master, occupies a space of about four feet square. All the machinery is contained in a cylinder which resembles an ordinary drum. Through this runs a double shaft, one revolving in a sleeve. It is upon this shaft that the difficulty at present exists. The negative and positive motions are nearly equal, and Mr. Keely is engaged in the graduation of these so as to cause them to harmonize. When he accomplishes this, which he says is a tedious operation, then the Keely motor will be completed. A private exhibition was given today to the TIMES correspondent. Two small keys were turned, and immediately the shaft, containing an 18-inch shell, began to revolve. There is no flywheel to the engine, only the one to which the pulley is attached direct. This moves at the rate about 25 revolutions per minute. Mr. Keely claims that is all that is necessary, as the shafting may be geared to run machinery to any speed required. The wheel moved, that is certain, and its revolutions were steady and regular. As to the power which it has, a rope of great strength was tied to a stout beam overhead and to the shaft of the engine. This rope was snapped in twain, and the revolutions did not vary in the least. The new generator is also a curiosity. It occupies a space about 6 feet in length, 10 in width, and a height of 5 feet. There are numerous small pipes, of mysterious appearance of the thickness of telegraph wire, bored to the fineness of a cambric needle. One of these leads from the generator to the engine, and it is claimed that all the power is secured through this medium, and the regularity of motion secured by the vibratory apparatus contained inside the drum cylinder. People who expect to learn all about the engine, generator, and the secrets of the thing, will probably be discouraged when they take into their mind what Mr. Keely says: "After I have secured my letters patent, it will require at least a year of lecturing to demonstrate the secret of this generator and engine," remarked Mr. Keely. "The apparatus will be in use some 20 years before the thing is fully understood." The first public experiment will be the running of a circular saw, three feet in diameter, at 3,500 revolutions per minute. Five drops of water will be used and 10 cords of wood sawed. This is to occur somewhere about July 1. Mr. Keely does not talk as extravagantly as he did some years ago, but speaks now in avery confident manner. He has a word to say about Edison, and that is that the electric light will not be a success until the Keely motor is attached to it. He believes that his success will be the success of Edison, and that the electric light will never perform what is claimed for it with any other engine but his. There is one thing certain, Mr. Keely has succeeded in making the wheel go around. He has abandoned his idea of pressure. He has got hold of something which he says is the right thing, and has recently been creating some excitement in a private way among scientific men.
STOCKHOLDERS DECLARING, BY RESOLUTION, THAT THE MACHINE IS NEARLY PERFECTED.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 8,1888.- The annual meeting of the stockholders of the Keely Motor Company was held today, and was presided over by Edward J. Randall, of New York. Of the 84,000 shares of stock issued 72,843 were represented in person or by proxy. Something over 80,000 New York shares represented by proxy. The session was held private, great care being, taken that no newspaper men should to present. After the meeting adjourned the only matter which would be given to the public was a resolution that was adopted, to this effect: The stockholders having heard with pressure the favorable reports submitted to them by their board as to the status of the invention of Mr. Keely, but whereas the invention has taken a longer time for its perfections than was anticipated, by reason of which some of the stockholders who have not been able personally to follow the progress of the enterprise may have become discouraged: Therefore. Resolved. That the stockholders now present do unhesitatingly declare that Mr. Keely has discovered and developed a new motive power of extraordinary power and energy. That the generator for the development of the power is a perfect machine. That the vibratory engine for its utilization has progressed to that extent as to have demonstrated, in our opinion, that he is master of the situation, and will succeed at an early date in utilizing as a motive power of great value the new force so discovered and applied by him. Nothing now remains, in our opinion, but mechanical details connected with his engine, which we have every confidence he will at an early day have under his entire control.
(6/11/1882)
To the editor of the New York Times:
Your remark in The Times in reference to Mr. John W. Keely and his inventions, and to the suit which is soon to be tried are not quite correct in some particulars. The suit on the part of the Directors and stockholders is not merely to compel Mr. Keely to give what exists in his mind only, but to give the company the present finished generator and the "Secret" of working it, as he has done over 7,000 times during the last two years in the presence of hundreds of able men who have no doubt of its great value to day. The secret and how to work the generator to be given in custody of a responsible partly and then time worked extended to him to finish a large engine which is new being built, even while the suit is progressing. This is asked for so that the company may understand the power in case of Mr. Keely's death.
GEORGE H. PEABODY No. 118 East
12/8/1882
NYT -Mr. WILLIAM BOEKEL, the Philadelphia machinist who was selected by Mr. Keely as a proper person to study his mysterious motor and satisfy the doubts of the stockholders of the Keely Motor Company, has been pursuing his studies now for about three months without learning anything tangible in regard to the wonderful engine. When the stockholders met and determined to demand some proof from the inventor that the stock for which they had expended their money really represented something that existed beyond the limits of the alleged inventor's imagination. Keely, after some dignified resentment, finally offered to explain the mysteries of his discovery to one person, and Boekel was the man chosen. At the weeks have passed and Boeker has learned nothing that he did not know before the stockholders are again becoming suspicious. The Philadelphia Times says that as Boekel had been employed to manufacture certain parts of the marvelous machine, some of the stockholders objected to him from the first, and declared that his selection was prearranged. Meanwhile Boekel visits Keely's factory daily, and the people dwelling in the neighborhood are frequently startled by the sounds of terrific explosions in the building. The enemies of the inventor say that he explodes large quantities of gunpowder there for the sake of effect, and they have determined, if Boekel has not told them something to satisfy them by Tuesday of next week, that they will console themselves with a monster mass-meeting for the purpose of expressing indignation. Mr. Keely, however, does not appear to be alarmed, and complacently speeds his new trotting horse over the drives in Fairmount Park on pleasant afternoons.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, March 25, 1884.- The Directors of the Keely Motors Company, who emerged the evening from Secretary Schuellermann's office, after a full meeting of the board, were a very hopeful-looking body of men. "The vibratory engine is finished," they said; "the work of adjusting and focalizing is progressing rapidly, and Mr. Keely has fixed the date for the actual exhibition of the motor on or before April 10." Mr. Keely's message was communicated verbally to the officers and through them to the Directors, Keely himself was not present at the meeting. "I am too busy to come," he explained to Treasurer Green, "and I am now so near done with my work that I don't want to appear before the Directors again until I appear to exhibit to them our final triumph." After Mr. Keely's announcement had been made to the Directors, Mr. Green, read a brief statement from the inventor relative to recent rumors that he was delaying the completion of the motor in order to apply his mysterious power to other mediums in the interest of other parties. Mr. Keely denied these statements emphatically.
THE DIRECTORS TO GIVE ANOTHER EXHIBITION TO UNPREJUDICED MEN.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 24, 1884.- The Directors of the Keely Motor Association met tonight at the Lafayette Hotel. Charles B. Collier, of New York, said: "In view of the many comments on the 'Keely Motor' it was recently planned to submit Mr. Keely's discoveries and inventions to a party of unprejudiced men, men competent to judge and reliable in their statements, and who had no pecuniary interest therein. The following gentlemen have expressed their willingness to visit Mr. Keely's shop and pronounce upon the invention: Gen. Russell Thayer, Superintendent Fairmount Park; Mr. Sutherland Provost, Superintendent Transportation of Pennsylvania Railroad; Mr. Amzi Dood, President Dodd's Express Company; Col. Richard Muckle, Richard Muckle, Jr., mechanical engineer; Theodore Vail, General Manager Bell Telephone. Boston, and Theodore Ely, Superintendent motive power, Pennsylvania Railroad. The first application of his inventions in doing steady, practical work is soon to be made by replacing his small steam engine used in his shop with a small vibratory scribed. Then is to follow the new and large 250-horse power engine now in course of construction by Newsham & Co., of Philadelphia, which will be wholly vibratory, the present being only one-third vibratory and two-thirds pulsating. and Mr. Keely claims that with the contents of one receiver he will be able to run it continuously for 30 hours. With this Mr. Keely will cease his exhibitions, and, with all his patents secure, deliver to his company the entire apparatus, and their speedy manufacture will follow for the markets of the world." The day upon which the committee of gentlemen appointed will visit the Keely workshop will shortly be announced.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, March 26, 1886.-A test was made today by Mr. Keely before a committee of scientists and mechanical engineers from New York, and a pressure of 2,700 pounds to the square inch was obtained by the use of one pint of water. More water was added, and the pressure was almost doubled. Mr. Keely claims that the etheric force by which these results were obtained will be utilized to the fullest possible extent in the 25,000 horse power engine on which he is now working. "This engine," said Secretary Schulermann, "will perhaps be finished early next month, ant it will then be fully covered by patents, and made known to the public, who will be more dumfounded than the committee who just came here skeptics and went away convinced. When this engine is done the long labors of Mr. Keely will be over, and the world will know more about the molecular and atomic divisions of matter than ever before. Mr. Keely has long been master of this subtle etheric force, and it will soon be the world's secret. Mr. Keely is engaged on the new engine at his shop at Twentieth and Master streets. The long delay in making the practical application of this force a public matter has been because Mr. Keely desired to perfect this invention before disclosing it to the world."
STOCKHOLDERS WHO ARE READY TO LET HIM DO AS HE WILL.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 8, 1888.- Sixty enthusiastic Keely motor stockholders met in the third-story room at Eighth and Walnut street this afternoon. The inventor had requested that the meeting be held to pass upon the question whether or not the suit begun against him in July last should be pressed. The suit, which was instigated by the four New-York Directors against the opposition of the three Philadelphia Directors, was so compel Keely to turn over his property to surrender patents, and to disclose his secret to some one appointed by them. In his circular to the stockholders recently issued, Keely said he had reason to believe the majority of the stockholders are opposed to the action begun against him, but he wanted to know definitely what they were going to do about it, as his own policy would be thereby shaped. The New-York Directors were not present, nor was President Bellinger. Keely also staid away, but sent a letter which was read to the meeting in which he said: "I have received a number of replies from stockholders, residents of New-York and elsewhere, all of whom deprecate the revival of the suit against me and express themselves in favor of the preposition of reorganization of the company as submitted by me to the stockholders. I have also been requested, verbally and in writing, by many stockholders to take into my confidence Mr. J. H. Linville and Mr. W. Barnet Le Van in connection with Mr. Boekel, and avail myself of their aid and advice in the matter of applying for my letters patent on my invention, and that I shall exhibit to them from time to time progressive experiments and explain the same to them. I have not conferred with these gentlemen on the subject since such request has been made, and therefore do not know whether or not they would be willing to act in the matter as proposed. But I will at an early time place myself in communication with them, and if it's agreeable to them I will take pleasure in complying with the request so preferred to me, in which case a shall expect the stockholders to be governed by their advice, as I myself will be in connection with that of my counsel, as to the proper time for making application for my patents." The 60 stockholders held proxies for about 150 others, and everybody was for Keely. Only one dissenting vote was heard when the meeting was started with a proposition from one stockholder, Mr. Huntley, to recommend the withdrawal of the suit and their organization of the motor company. Harrison Snyder presided over the deliberation and John C. Brans kept the minutes. The proposed reorganization provides for the reduction of the par value of shares from $50 to $20, but the number is to be increased to $250,000, the capital remaining the same. This committee was appointed to meet the Directors at the company's office nest Tuesday and urge them to withdraw the legal proceedings: Edward H. Greham, W. D. Huntley, William Boekel, and Harrison Snyder. The New-York Directors are expected to be present.
EXPERIMENTS DESCRIBED ON HIS NEW "SYMPATHETIC ATTRACTION.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 25, 1888.- The new Board of Directors of the Keely Motor Company met today in the office of the company, 911 Walnut street. It was the first meeting of the heard since the acceptance of the resignations of the three Philadelphia Directors. The meeting was secret and was long drawn out. It was expected that the board would take action upon the decision of the stockholders, at their recent meeting, unqualifiedly endorsing Mr. Keely's proposition for a reorganization of the company's affairs, under a scheme to increase the capital stock and provide funds for the working out of the inventor's alleged new discovery. After the meeting had adjourned it was said that matters, had not reached a climax in that direction. The court proceedings in the case of Wilson against Keely came in for a share of the time of the meeting, and it was stated that it would be conclusively shown tomorrow that the machine which Wilson says he has a claim on and the machine Keely is now working on are entirely different. Inventor Keely has informed the experts that he will be ready to show them his machine and explain its working tomorrow, according to decree of the court. The decree does not compel him to put the machine at work. The experts will have a drawing belonging to Wilson, which, he says, is the machine he has a claim to. The drawing is made partly by Keely himself and partly by Wilson as the dictation of Keely. When the meeting adjourned, one of the Directors said it had been decided to investigate a "point" in the matter which, it is believed, will place everything right between Keely and the Directors. Everything is expected to run smoothly after the examination by the experts tomorrow. During the meeting William Boekel, who, it is said, outside of Keely, known more about the machine than any man living, gave the Directors a description of several interesting experiments recently made by Keely on his new "sympathetic attraction."
SENT TO PRISON FOR REFUSING TO OBEY THE COURT.
NYT -PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 17, 1888.- Inventor John W. Keely was sent to Moyamensing Prison by Judge Finletter this afternoon for contempt of court. The contempt charged is that Keely disobeyed the order of the court issued April 7, 1888, instructing him to "operate and explain the mode of operation" of the "Keely motor," so that experts appointed by the court might report as to the similarity of the machine of 1809, which Bennett C. Wilson claims to have bought of Keely, and the present "Keely motor." When Common Pleas Court No. 3 was called to order at 10 o'clock Rufus E. Shapley, counsel for Bennett C. Wilson, addressed Judge Finletter and asked that judgment be entered on the order issued on Saturday last adjudging Keely guilty of contempt. The Judge then entered judgment on the order after explaining that the delay was caused by some misunderstanding as regard the practice. "I now apply for a writ of attachment compelling Keely to appear in court at once," said Mr. Shapley. Judge Finletter granted the request, and an hour later, after having passed through the Prethonotary's office, an attachment was placed in the hands of Deputy Sheriff James B. Pattison. Deputy Sheriff Pattison was about to start for Keely's residence and workshop when a communication was sent to the Sheriff saying, that the inventor was not at his home or workshop, but was in the immediate neighborhood of the Court House. The vicinity of the Court House was scour- ed, but inventor Keely could not be found. The time passed and the clock in the tower struck 1, but the Sheriff's officers did not appear with Keely. Shortly after 1 o'clock Judge Finletter adjourned the court until 1:30 o'clock. Ten minutes before the court was again called to order Keely, who appeared to be laboring under suppressed excitement but walking erect, entered the court room accompanied by Joseph J. Murphy, one of his counsel. The pair quietly occupied chairs at the bar of the court and waited for Judge Finletter's appearance. The Judge called the court to order promptly at 1:30 o'clock. Mr. Murphy then addressed the Judge, saying that Mr. Keely, after hearing of the issuing of the attachment, had expressed his wish to appear in court without the service of the writ and to defend himself against the charges preferred against him by Wilson, which he would do in a written statement. Mr. Keely, then arose, took off his overcoat, and kissed the book, when he was addressed by Judge Finletter, who said: "You have been brought into court on an attachment for contempt in not obeying an order of the court. You now have an opportunity to purge yourself of the contempt, or show cause why you should not be dealt with as the court should deem proper. What have you to say?" Keely then said that he had done everything in his power to obey the mandates of the court and he considered his line of conduct that which had been defined for him by the court. He then read a long statement, which he declared was true in every particular, giving an account of his interviews with the experts, who, he said, were hostile to him and unable, though prejudice, to make a fair report regarding the motor. He claimed to have obeyed all orders of the court and disclaimed any intention to show any disrespect to the court. Judge Finletter did not stop a moment to consider the statement or the plea, but recited in a low tone his decree, which he appeared to have been prepared during the reading of Keely's statement. The decree ordered that "the said John W. Keely shall the committed to the county prison to be there kept and confined in custody until he shall have purged himself or said contempt and until he shall have been legally discharged from said contempt." Keely was standing directly in front of the judge, but could not hear the left ear was toward the speaker, and listened attentively, his face bearing a look of suspense and anxiety. When the judge had concluded the decree Keely appeared to be dazed and remained standing until his counsel, Mr. Murphy, requested him to sit down. Mr. Murphy immediately sent word of the nature of the decree to Wayne MacVeagh. Keely's senior counsel, and waited until the Court Clerk made out the commitment, which was handed to Deputy Sheriff J. Pattison. Mr. Murphy did not appear greatly chagrined by Judge Finletter's action, but said he thought before the rearing that the Judge would discharge Keely. He compared the inventor to a lamb being led to the slaughter. Keely left the court room in the custody of Deputy Sheriff Pattison, and the start was made for the county prison. The pair went out the back way into independence-square, followed by a dozen pairs of eyes of the inorbdly? curious court loungers, Keely leading the way, with Deputy Sheriff Pattison in the rear. The two men walked out Sansom-street to Ninth, where they got a carriage and were driven to the county prison. An hour after his commitment Keely occupied cell 150 on the third floor of the prison. The cell, 9 feet wide by 14 feet long, is carpetless, not differing in any respect from the cells occupied by the other prisoners. Keely's counsel will immediately attempt to get him released on a write of habeas corpus.