Definitions, and more

Definitions

Since this blog is titled "Perpetual Motion in the 21st Century", let's look at how "perpetual motion" is defined these days. In my opinion, the most authoritative English-language dictionary of all is the Oxford English Dictionary. Here is its definition:—

"Perpetual Motion: Motion that goes on for ever, spec. that of a hypothetical machine, which being once set in motion should go on for ever, or until stopped by some external force or the wearing out of the machine."

(Reference: The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, Vol XI, p586).

This is the definition of Perpetual Motion to which I adhere.

There is an on-line version of the Oxford dictionary, at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com. It has this abbreviated definition:—

"the motion of a hypothetical machine which, once activated, would run forever unless subject to an external force or to wear:  the age-old quest for the secret of perpetual motion"

The remarkable fact is that the Oxford dictionary is the only one that has not felt obliged to "modernise" the definition to incorporate some reference to energy, and thereby reduce it to an almost worthless banality (along the lines of "You can't get energy from nothing"). All other English-language dictionaries, and on-line sources such as Wikipedia have now done this, as far as I know.

A bit more on mechanical devices

Chronologically, I started looking at mechanical (non-magnetic) perpetual motion ideas first, then at interactions between permanent magnets, then at electromagnet/permanent magnet interactions. I intend to follow that order, more or less, in this blog.

Next time I'll fully describe one of my less naïve attempts at a mechanical device. For now, here are two of eight ramp-roller one-way clutches that I modified from old Suzuki GN250 motorcycle starter clutches, so that they could release and turn backwards over part of an operating cycle. These were used in some of the experiments I did with the wheel shown in my first post.

The most difficult tasks were to modify the eight-spoked central hubs, made of fully-hardened steel (which were originally of much larger diameter, with gear teeth around their rims), and also the ramp portions of the clutches, made of case-hardened steel. In the days before laser cutting equipment came along, I could machine these only by grinding, or by cutting and drilling with tungsten-carbide blades and drill bits.

I made all these items many years ago, before the computer modelling programs that I now use became available. Back then, the only way of testing ideas was to build physical models.

In those days I enjoyed working in these "hard-core" "old-school" ways: but not so much now!

With the hindsight that I have now acquired, it's obvious that none of my original ideas for perpetual motion could have worked. However, I regard these ideas now as an early, but necessary, part of an on-going learning curve.