S. B. Nickum



Sylvanus B. Nickum was an American inventor who, while resident at Logansport, Cass Co., Indiana, claimed in 1898 to have produced a perpetual light source, one that would neither dim nor require replenishment of fuel, the secret power being captured in a hermetically-sealed glass globe. Nickum was the object of regional and sometimes national press attention for the next several years as he took on new investors while refusing to give any public exhibition or allow private inspection, always insisting on more time, which led to his being brought before a grand jury twice, and finally sued by dissatisfied investors, leading to the seizure of most of his assets in 1900. Despite this, Nickum staunchly insisted that he had accomplished what he claimed and went on attempting to raise funds to continue his work on the project late into his life, but with little success as he ended his days in isolation and poverty, his final years spent as an inmate of the Marion County Poor Asylum at Wayne Township, Indiana.