Double
cone weight
The fact that a
double cone weight will roll uphill on a diverging pair of ways has
been taken by a perpetual motionist as the basis for a self-moving car,
as shown in the cut, the rails being divergent up grade and parallel
down grade in sections. Patented in 1829.
(Subsection 931, from
p.372)
From: Gardner D. Hiscox, M.E., Mechanical Appliances and Novelties of Construction (1927), Norman W. Henley Publ. Co.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
