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Keely motor fraud...



Item # 631561

October 29, 1881

ST. LOUIS GLOBE-DEMOCRAT, Missouri, October 29, 1881

* Early scam artist?
* Non steam Motor
* The Keely Motor Company Hoax


This uncommon Midwestern title has news of the day with many interesting advertisements. Page 2 has an article headed: "The Keeley Motor Difficulty" (see images), which relates to what is now know as The Keely Motor Company Hoax.

Complete in 12 pages, nice condition.

Background (Wikipedia): John Ernst Worrell Keely (September 3, 1837 – November 18, 1898) was a US inventor from Philadelphia who claimed to have discovered a new motive power which was originally described as "vaporic" or "etheric" force, and later as an unnamed force based on "vibratory sympathy", by which he produced "interatomic ether" from water and air. Despite numerous requests from the stockholders of the Keely Motor Company, which had been established to produce a practicable motor based on his work, he consistently refused to reveal to them the principles on which his motor operated, and also repeatedly refused demands to produce a marketable product by claiming that he needed to perform more experiments. He secured substantial investments from many people, among whom was John Jacob Astor IV.

Category: Post-Civil War