Plan of the Universe So Vast It Baffles Human Comprehension

1920

Orion
By S. F. Maxwell
[Copyright, 1920, by W. D. Boyce Co.]

What is the plan of the universe? Time and space go on and on forever, but there is a limit to the stars, in this little corner of the sky, at least.

The stellar universe is vast almost beyond comprehension. We think the 92,000,000 miles to the sun is an immense distance, yet light crosses it in eight minutes. The distance light goes in a year is the ordinary unit for stellar distances, yet in measuring the size of the universe it is entirely too small.

Example in Reduced Proportions.

Here is an example of the proportions of outer space. Let the earth's orbit be represented by a silver dime. Then Mars is one inch away, Jupiter 5 inches, Saturn eight inches, Uranus seventeen inches and Neptune thirty inches. This ends the sun's little family of planets. The nearest star on this scale is three miles away, the next is seven, the next nine, and most of the others are hundreds and thousands Of miles away.

Now multiply this scale enough to make the dime 186,000,000 miles in diameter, and you have a fair idea of the size of the universe. We can see the stars clearly over such enormous expanses of space because they are exceedingly bright and also because an absolute vacuum exists between, with nothing to stop their speeding light waves.

There are forces permeating all this great expanse, chief of which is gravity. It is nowhere as strong as the gravity we experience on the surface of the earth, but as there is no force adequate to counteract it, it swings the stars about just as the sun swings its planets.

There are two streams of stars in the sky, rushing along like motes in a sunbeam. The two streams mix at times, and mingle together without apparently suffering in the least. Stars are to a great extent independent of their nearest neighbors. There are many close clusters that move from birth to death without the component parts falling together at all.

Streams of Moving Stars.

Astronomers, watching the stars of the sky moving in great streams, were much impressed by the amount of force necessary to hold so great a bulk of stars together. Left to themselves they could go on and on forever, and the universe would eventually disintegrate. Nothing like this seems to be taking place. The source of energy remained a mystery until it was discovered that the Orion stars did not partake of the general motion. They alone, of all the stars in the sky, stand still, and all the others wheel around them.

Orion is a gigantic constellation, and its suns are all huge, heavy bodies, whose tremendous pull of gravity is felt in every part of the celestial vault.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 9.

Perpetual Motion Machine

1909

Runs Perfectly Without Any Aid, Declares Pennsylvania Inventor

UNIONTOWN, Pa., Oct. 6. — After labor of years Allen S. Snyder believes he has solved the problem of perpetual motion.

He has a model which he declares proves that his principle is right. It runs by force of gravity, and besides being able to put out perpetual motion toys at 50 cents each, he declares that a machine capable of giving 100 horse power is possible under his plans.

He has been working and studying for fifteen years, and has now given up his work here and retired to a farm at Mosley Junction, eighteen miles from Richmond, Va., where he can give more time to the work of building a larger model and overcoming the imperfections that are manifested in the one now completed. He expects to put his completed machine before the public within a year, but at this time he refuses to give out the details of his apparatus.

Snyder is 39 years of age and for many years was a successful school teacher in Dunbar Township, this county. In 1902 he took the mine foreman's examination and has since served as mine foreman and fire boss at various plants throughout the coke region, including the Fairchance plant of the H. C. Frick Coke Company, and the Revere plant of the W. J. Rainey Company.

Before leaving for Mosley Junction Mr. Snyder said: "I will throw my model before the public within a year and it will demonstrate the reality of perpetual motion. My model may admit of many improvements, and it will likely open a wide field for the inventive mind: The machine simply runs by force of gravity."


Kissing Ban Lifted

Baltimore announces that the ban on kissing in the city parks has been lifted. The suffragette movement should "go big" in Baltimore.