Light from Noise

1895

The Remarkable Discovery That Is Claimed by an Expert Electrician.

Charles F. Kline, who is known as the penitentiary electrician, is recognized as an expert. Kline has developed a new and wonderful idea in electricity that is certain to attract attention. he says:

"If two dissimilar conductors of electricity, subject to slight atomic change under the influence of sound, are joined together after the manner of a pair of thermopile bars and the open ends are insulated by a suitable nonconductor of both sound and electricity, a current is generated when sounds are made in the vicinity of the exposed ends. If two or more such elements are connected together, we have an acoustic battery, and by increasing the number of elements it is possible to operate an ordinary. call bell by simply clapping the hands in front of the exposed ends of the battery. If a telephone receiver is placed in the circuit of this battery, articulate speech and other sounds are reproduced in the receiver without loss whatever of tone, pitch or quality, and we have at once a battery and a telephone transmitter combined.

By enlarging the surface of the exposed ends of the elements and by employing very loud sounds as an excitant a current might possibly be generated which would be of the required force and quantity to operate motors. Shops might be lighted to some extent by the noise of the machinery. A clock might be made self winding by the sound of its ticking, and then perpetual power would become as common as spring power. What the internal resistance of this battery would be when working under the influence of extraordinary loud sounds remains to be determined. But for most purposes the resistance would not amount to much, the materials from which the bars are made being made conductors.

"The noise made by walking on the floors or by shutting the doors might be made to charge small storage batteries, and electricity on tap would become as cheap as water. The materials from which the bars of this battery are made are not to be found in commerce." — Cleveland Plain Dealer.

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.