The " Gary effect " and the Wesley Gary motor.

[Grumage]

I've long been fascinated by a simple mechanical magnetic OU device that was presented by Wesley W Gary in 1879. A fully detailed account can be found here from the many pages of the Rex Research website.

http://www.rexresearch.com/gary/gary1.htm

The device appears to be a simple put together and run project but has proved to be almost impossible! Well, for me anyway.

WG's motor works on a discovery he made that the magnetic polarity actually changes within a soft Iron armature when placed at a certain distance from the permanent magnet. Here's a video of my confirmation of the so called " Gary effect " in action.

https://youtu.be/ACykTfXspfM

I then followed up with this where the action nearly came together.

https://youtu.be/XA8RmmvrvH8

Around that time the TinMan was also experimenting with a rotary version, the first device of his actually flew apart but upon rebuilding the effect never reappeared. The following video is of my own version, there are several others too.

https://youtu.be/LMGcFtH18hE

Life goes on and my poor replication attempt was shelved, along with all the other failed OU devices....

I recently decided to have another look and remade the seesaw/teeter totter with sections of transformer Steel and Neodymium magnets.

https://youtu.be/Y-NzUOkGzGQ

I opened this thread in the hope that there's a few
" mechanically " oriented folks out there that are possibly unaware of the Wesley Gary motor and his " effect " that might like to jump in and try a build.

Since that video I have replaced the " polished " pivots with precision ball races and fitted the device with my homemade high Carbon Steel bar magnets. The results can be seen here.

https://youtu.be/CFT5PZgpz5c

To conclude this first post, of which I hope there'll be many more from other contributors??  I'd like to make a few suggestions/observations that may help see us to a device that could,  " change the world " !!

Size.

Ah yes, I think it does matter here. The whole device seems kinda weird as it works, more like reaction following action or vice versa. If you build you'll get what I'm saying. It's non linear, very different to an IC engine where you can have properly timed actions. Too small and the lack of Mass will inhibit change, unless you're a retired watchmaker of course.

Magnet choice.

Back in 1879 Mr Gary would have had but a single choice in material. Many shapes and sizes but still one material, high Carbon Steel. I'm of the opinion that if too powerful a field is used the effect would be literally overwhelmed or the distance too great. I'm also pretty sure that we need to use long poles to ensure a proper North and South is seen by the armature.

This device although simple to look at is very complex in its action. Care and attention to detail will be paramount. Every piece will need to be well balanced and polished where necessary. Friction is our enemy and must be eliminated, everywhere.

It seems strange to me that a device that was presented well over a hundred years ago, allegedly working, that there's hardly a single reference today. Was it a hoax? Fact or fiction? Can we prove otherwise?

Over to you....

[iflewmyown]

hello,
I also pursued Gary's motor for a while. I reached the same conclusion as you as to magnets. I bent 4130 .250 rod into horseshoes and magnetized with big Neos. It is a game of patience and little improvements which I failed at. I wish you luck. The man with the two stage mechanical oscillator claimed that spring steel supports were one hundred times more friction free than ball bearings, so that might be an area to look at.
Good luck, Garry

[Grumage]

Hello Garry.

Welcome, it's good to read of another that's possibly got to the " hair pulling " state after many hours of tinkerings.

You'll know exactly what I wrote about with the non linear behaviour?

I'm now trying the armature as shown in Figure 2 from the Rex Research literature, linked in my opening post.

What did you use for your armature? I chose transformer Steel because it won't permanently magnetise itself. But I'm wondering if the laminated section might upset things, lots of Gary effects? There's so many variables.

Cheers Graham.

[iflewmyown]

Hi Graham,
It took me a while to find the carcass. I was into this about ten years ago. Three years ago right after I retired my shop burned. Most things in it were partly ruined or totally destroyed. All that I kept from that build was one horse shoe shaped magnet I had made. It is still magnetized to my surprise. I think that laminated material repelled each part when magnetized and I was trying to use low carbon steel, not having iron.
Garry

[Grumage]

Hi Garry.

Well, it seems like it's just the two of us here. I'd have thought that there were a few others of a mechanical leaning that might have been interested in such a simple machine?

I now have my laminated armature fixed in a vertical plane ( fig 2 ) in the literature. I got to a point of,
OMG this is nearly there but I wasn't sure because I'd had to fix some Ceramic magnets to the static bars as they'd lost their magnetism.

I will be remagnetising them later by inserting them into a very heavy Copper wire solenoid coil and zapping it with a large car battery.

At this moment my " test bed " just has the seesaw/teeter totter facing the armature in attraction. What's interesting is that the " effect " can be seen very easily. As I raise the armature slowly the seesaw follows and then suddenly is repelled upwards.

Video?? Is anyone interested?

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank TinselKoala for looking at the videos and making comments.

Cheers Graham.