Nathan Coppedge's Perpetual Motion Essays--My Sources of Inspiration

Sources of Inspiration

I have been considering now and then the sorts of things that lead up to
an idea. It may be an ordinary object or tool that somehow serves as a
component in a machine, or it might be a particular set of words that would
make a good name for a device. Whatever the case, each of my designs
has roots in a whole network of correspondences, within which the design
has a certain special purpose and significance. What I will do here is list
all the major conscious associations I have which I believe brought about
each design in turn, each an identity independent of the others.

Coquette: The device is meant to tip back and forth, resembling a drinking
bird or preening peacock, a sort of coquettish movement which reminds
me at the same time of wind vanes and various garden ornaments. So far
as I know the name hasn't been used before as a name for a pm device. If
it worked it would be the ultimate garden ornament, and the title would be
very apt.

Tilt Motor: The name "tilt motor" may be a take-off on "tilt-rotor", which
is of military origins and relates to the Comanche stealth helicopter (as
a child I had a paranoid fascination with military-related things).
In elementary school I played with a tilting maze game where the object is
to bring a ball from the starting point to a hole at the end, which made
tilting seem interesting. The rolling cone is inspired by my mother's
kitchen rolling pin and coffee cups which roll in circles if you push them
when they are lain on their sides. The design came together as I was
brainstorming for a new perpetual motion design, having already posted
five others on this website. I happened to have a coffee cup in front of
me, so I went with that. More recently I have started to wonder if the
word "tureen" had anything to do with it.

Repeating Leverage: I vaguelly associate the idea with certain childhood
games such as Hungry Hippoes, and the series of connectable tubes
that may be used to race marbles. Also, the idea of a "wheel of fortune",
wheel-lock pistols, and levers used in raising water. I am uncertain of
how exactly I came across this idea, except that I have known
something about it since childhood.

Motive Mass: Clearly see-saws are the major inspiration here, as well
as the modern idea of "toggling" applied mechanically. The triangular
shape of the see-saw with the track mounted over it resembles to some
extent a brass sextant, as it might be mounted on a ship. This concept
seemed very close to an innate idea: it started out complex, developed
complex theory, and then became very simple.

Curving Rail: Clearly inspired by rollercoasters, as well as being a
development of the cumulative pull concept from Grav-Buoys 1 and 2.
I was looking for a concept that made the best use of tracks, since
I hadn't seen many PM designs that used them.

Fluid Leverage: A fairly typical waterwheel in the medieval tradition.
I became engaged with this concept because I felt blocked in
understanding how a more typical wheel could ever work. The
frustration continues with Principled Asymmetry, itself a development
of Motive Mass experiments (specifically difference levers).

Grav-Buoy 2: A modification of the gravity-buoyancy principle present
in Frank Tatay's design of 1929. Pearl necklaces, lane-marker buoys,
and the idea of finding a use for giant old abandoned oil drums were
also key factors. More than any of my other designs, the second
iteration was in this case a result of rigorous testing within my
mathematical ability. The second design came about after months of
obsessive analyzing of the principles operating in Iteration 1, including
pages of data and equations.

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NATHAN COPPEDGE--Perpetual Motion Theory: Essays

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