Archibald James Robertson
From Kook Science
"A represents a frame work to which my motor is attached. KK is a power lever, the weight J on the outer end of which produces a pressure on the top wheel L. GG is a similar power lever, with a similar weight, producing a similar pressure on the bottom wheel E. Note that the pressure in the one case is downward and the other upward. Further, note that in both cases the pressure is conveyed to a second wheel. From these second wheels it is conveyed to the large central wheel, but on opposite sides and in opposite directions[...] The object is to communicate motion to the central wheel, which will be attached by gearings to any machinery to be operated."
Archibald James Robertson (July 22, 1842 - February 23, 1915) was a Scots-born printer and inventor of a "gravity motor" that was claimed to be a perpetual motion machine, which was to be promoted and sold through the Robertson Perpetual Motor Company, as reported in the Chicago Tribune during 1889. A scheduled unveiling of the motor for early April 1889 was postponed, on the basis that a model built by the Chicago Machine, Die & Model Works did not operate correctly and that Robertson would have to privately construct one himself, but there was no further publicity or mention of it again thereafter, and only a diagram of the motor, published in the Chicago papers, is known to us at this time.
Press Coverage
- "The Robertson Perpetual Motor Company, Chicago, Ill., 1889. Capital stock, $5,000,000.", Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): 3, 7 Mar. 1889, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121116557/the-robertson-perpetual-motor-company/
- "BETTER THAN EYEWATER: COL. SELLERS OUTDONE BY ARCHIBALD JAMES ROBERTSON. He Has Invented a New Motor in Which Gravity Furnishes the Power — The Inventor Explains His Machine Which Is to Revolutionize the Present Methods of Creating Power — He Will Astonish the World Within a Few Days When His Motor Is Running.", Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): 1, 23 Mar. 1889, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121115672/better-than-eyewater-col-sellers/
- "THE WORLD STILL WAITS. MR. ARCHIBALD JAMES ROBERTSON'S PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE.", Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): 6, 12 Apr. 1889, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121115549/the-world-still-waits-mr-archibald-ja/