That wheel in the picture is a stylized version of a very old perpetual motion machine (which didn't work). This is looking more and more like a joke.

Why include [sic] in your quote from their website? What inaccuracy was that intended to denote?

"We apologise [sic] for this delay and appreciate your patience."

There's no need to use [sic] on the word "apologise". The British spell lots of words differently than Americans, but that doesn't mean they're incorrect.

Given that I just returned to the U.S. from England and suffered through six fillings, two root canals and one crown (with another still to go) I have a personal gripe against the way Brits do things :)

Nah, not really. But apologize is a commonly misspelled American word, so I added it. No offense intended.

This really does look like a joke, if it weren't for the way mechanical parts wear out I have a really simple design for a perpetual motion device. :)

Per Apple, sic [sic] is ... "used in brackets after a copied or quoted word that appears odd or erroneous to show that the word is quoted exactly as it stands in the original..."

(Emphasis added.)
Nothing to see here, folks.

Well apologise is the correct spelling unless you are in the USA, despite the best efforts of the Microsoft Word spellchecker.

So drop the [sic] or I'll start correcting every American who can't pronounce Aluminium properly.

The Irish come up with a perpetual motion machine that doesn't work - there's a [sic] joke in there somewhere...

Thanks for bringing a smile to my face!

"There's no need to use [sic] on the word "apologise". The British spell lots of words differently than Americans, but that doesn't mean they're incorrect."

The English language is correct as per the Brits (you may have noticed they live in a country called England, which sounds suspiciously similar to the word "English"...) - "US English" is only correct in America, and not the rest of the world, so it's actually Americans that spell things differently to the rest of the world! But I agree that that doesn't make it wrong, just localized!

It's NOT odd that sic is required in this context because the reporting language is english dialect.

On topic, I would rather this device work than not. I would also prefer to see a suitable ridicule provided as and when it fails not before.

I wonder if they are doing this in public to satisfy some sucker language in their investor documents and avoid fraud charges by their investors.

"Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting."

My initial assessment indicates that this is due to the presence of cameras and other observers.

Oddly enough, I'm going to leave for the U.K. and Ireland on Saturday for a belated honeymoon very soon. First stop is actually in Ireland, although I won't be stopping in Dublin, where this company is headquartered. I apologize [sic] to our English readers for that. ;)

I had an idea like this a long time ago after drinkning to much... hmmm. Damn Leprechauns took my idea.

Seriously though, is it just me or is it odd that the focus is now on the proper use of [sic] and the variations between Standard and American English?

All the back-and-forth about language and grammar aside... what's confusing me is the photo clearly shows a Plexiglas contraption (wheel and case). When's the last time you saw Plexiglas react to any sort of magnetic field? It doesn't _appear_ to have a speck of metal in it anywhere.

Just to continue the off-topic discussion: :o)

If you think it's bad to suggest that "apologise" is a misspelling, just take a look at the number of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles which claim that "can not" is a misspelling of the word "cannot"!

http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Asupport.microsoft.com+%22can+not%22+%22misspelling+for+the+word+cannot.%22

I can see high heat being a problem, as the device appears to be constructed out of plexiglass. Too high a temperature could cause the center disk to warp and lock up against the surrounding structure, preventing it from spinning. As far as perpetual motion, I'm not sure anything that uses a magnet truly meets the definition, since a magnet is continually inputting new energy into the device. The fact that it is FREE energy is a great thing, but I wouldn't say the device qualifies as perpetual motion per-se. That being said, I've always imagined that proper tuning of a magnetic pull on evenly spaced points along a wheel could strike a balance against the friction that wants to stop the wheel and the tendency of the magnet to pull the wheel in the wrong direction, at a set rotational speed. I don't know that you could extract any free energy from such a device, though - it might wind up being more of a desk novelty item.

"US English" is only correct in America, and not the rest of the world, so it's actually Americans that spell things differently to the rest of the world! But I agree that that doesn't make it wrong, just localized! [sic]
OK, enough of the spelling commentary:

I wonder that folks are thinking this is a plexiglass contraption when it seems much more likely that this is actually constructed from transparent aluminium. Montgomery Scott managed to lay out the structure of the material in short order on an old Mac, so it's likely that it's not terribly difficult to fabricate. It's also not unlikely that this form of the metal would have different magnetic properties to the more commonly occurring ones.

Cheers,
Charlie

Looks like using that [sic] was the start of a perpetual motion machine...

Ridicule aside, in the world of quantum physics there is abundant energy. The trick is to harness it, but that is what science and technology is about. Strange that on a modern (sic) website like this the first reaction is to sneer...

This looks like yet another version of Bhaskara's Wheel (aka the "overbalanced wheel"), a perpetual motion machine of the third kind; it's been kicking around for at least eight hundred years. Orbo (and, by extension, Steorn itself) would appear to be, pardon the expression, nothing more than a transparent scam.

I for one hope it does work in one way or another. The benefit of such would be unreal.

I have been to engineering conferences where this stuff has its own session. It's always something. Usually a "failure of the controls" that makes it give out no energy. I have never seen a demo. I always ask why the effect of "the controls", "the heat from the lights" has never made the output too much! A usual hint of fraud is when they want to sell you stock in the company not buy the product.

Long live the dreamers of this world !

For without them, we would all be living in caves !

Perpetual motion machines need inertia, based on magnetic fields used by planets. Finding the balance point would make flying cars reality, powered by perpetual motion would make the power free ...

As Einstien said ! make it simple, not too simple !

D

This whole "perpetual motion" device is just a silly way to defraud investors. There really is no such thing, People have been pulling this stunt for years. If somehow they actually come up with some evidence that it works, then I'll listen.

The real story - The perpetual motion device failed due to a lack of Guinness, of which a sufficient amount would need to be consumed by each individual observing the demosntration.

Sum of you're komments are making me [sic].

Its failure is probably a corollary to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle; which is to say that it probably works just fine as long as it's not being observed. :)

Perpetual Motion would be nice, but one thing that is always forgotten with it is that the requirement for perpetual motion is not ware and tare but things like friction (air, surfice to surfice, etc) the magnet would not work because just as the magnet will speed up the wheel as the metal goes near the magnet it will also slow down the wheel as it goes away from the magnet, a magnetic field does not go away just because it is leaving. There is also another problem with perpetual motion, say you created a 100% frictionless surfice inside a compleat vacume of everything box so there was no friction, so nothing can slow it down, following newtons laws this would be a perpetual motion machine. an object in motion tends to stay in motion. but you cant get power from it because if you add a gear to it to power even the smallest electrical or mecanical device that will take away power thus destroying the perfect balence of energy. you can't create energy you can only use it and change it into another form (heat, light, sound etc). in the end perpetual motion can only come if you create a perfectly frictionless surfice in a compleatly vaccume and in a compleatly closed system. *no closing it in a glass box is not a closed system, light still moves threw it thus it would not work* at that point if light can no go in or out you can not see the machine thus you never know if it actually works and then your touching things like schrodinger's cat and im not even touching that. Please enjoy your further conversations on this topic but please dont forget why we have really never gotten this to work

"The English language is correct as per the Brits (you may have noticed they live in a country called England, which sounds suspiciously similar to the word "English"...)" - - -

. . . and the word "England" is suspiciously similar to the word "Angle," as in one of many tribes of Northern European settlers into what was formerly "Britain," the language of which bears no resemblance to that spoken by the modern inhabitants of Anglo-Amer-India. The notion that the people of "Britain" have some sort of monopoly on our common language is absurd, yet oddly endearing as well.

Hi. I don't know what exactly is set in London, but in Jo-burg (South Africa), about 2 years ago very similar prototype was made. Is was invented by 2 local engineers ( privately). Actual prototype was fabricated in the factory where I work.
The prototype did pass the initial tests and the invention was sold for about US$3mil to an power-supply company.
On the working machine - the diameter of the wheel will be around 12 m . They will be installed in series of 6 . The main secret is the magnet. The ore containing it was found few years ago also in an African country. Sorry , I can not give you more details. What is going to happen next - expect some surprises soon (within next 2 years). I'm an engineer by trade and was also very skeptical about the perpetum mobile.....

Hi. I don't know what exactly is set in London, but in Jo-burg (South Africa), about 2 years ago very similar prototype was made. Is was invented by 2 local engineers ( privately). Actual prototype was fabricated in the factory where I work.
The prototype did pass the initial tests and the invention was sold for about US$3mil to an power-supply company.
On the working machine - the diameter of the wheel will be around 12 m . They will be installed in series of 6 . The main secret is the magnet. The ore containing it was found few years ago also in an African country. Sorry , I can not give you more details. What is going to happen next - expect some surprises soon (within next 2 years). I'm an engineer by trade and was also very skeptical about the perpetum mobile.....

It's all very well saying that you can use a magnet in such a way that it makes a wheel revolve without (they hope) any loss, but what good is that?

The energy used to turn the wheel can be harnessed more efficiently without the wheel (erm, just pick up and use the magnet, Chaps), so the wheel adds nothing but inefficiency.

Is it perpetual motion? No way, because energy is being applied constantly, which is contrary to the rules (check the large print).

Let's just call it "perpetual motion(sic)".

It'd make a nice toy to keep on your desk, though, so they'll probably move into the fancy-goods market.

"The notion that the people of "Britain" have some sort of monopoly on our common language is absurd, yet oddly endearing as well."

It's my experience (I'm a writer, so I have a fair bit of experience with usage of the English language) that the "ownership" of the English language is only ever discussed when someone from the US says or writes something that indicates that the language is owned by the US.

This discussion is no exception.

We Britons don't claim such ownership, except over our own dialects (excl. Bromwidgean -- if anyone wants it, will they please take it away?). Few in the US feel the same way, and too many declare that any non-US dialect comprises incorrect usages.

I have yet to come across a single word of english that can be reliably shown to have existed in England before all the invasions -- we don't know even one word of the Beaker language, for example (we even made up their name) -- so we don't really care if other people use our "non-existent" language with variants (exc. Bromwidgean; see above -- I'll even chip in to pay for its removal costs).

The US, however, seems Hell-bent on creating rules upon rules for the language (we British have only about 130 "fixed" rules of grammar), and insisting that the whole world follow them.

We're "endearing"?
You're annoying.
It makes me sic(sic), it does.

The problem with perpetual motion machines is that there ain't none.

Three laws of thermodynamics for idiots:

1. You can't get something for nothing.
2. The Best you can do is break even.
3. You can't break even.

I agree with the above:

A. It is a corallary of the Heisenberg principal-it only workds when no one is observing it.
B. Clearly insufficient Guiness is being used (Vodka always gives perpetual motion a good boost).

I have a better idea. Why don't we wrap the world with huge wires and let the rotation generate all the energy we will ever need?

To help continue the language thing, why do people from outside the US think the US is trying to claim everything? A couple people from the US do not speak for everyone. Is that how it is in your country? Besides, every state in the US speaks a different dialect then the other. The real claim should be who can make the most variations of the English language.

Indeed the heat would pose a problem with a close tolerance device. Anyone familiar with the trusty old internal combustion engine should already know this. I have seen a few variations on this design over the years, but they all fell within the realm of "toy".

I am willing to keep an open mind. I wish the company and their investors luck in future attempts.

James

(excl. Bromwidgean -- if anyone wants it, will they please take it away?).

What exactly is 'Bromwidgean', I can't find a trace of it anywhere on the net.

A great site on perpetual motion - http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/museum/unwork.htm - some fun stuff there. We all want something fo nothing, so wouldn't perpetual motion be the BEST?

As fo English - well, I am pretty certain we don't speak that here in Colorado. I flew home from Germany with a soccer club from the Black Country, and I couldn't understand a word they said. Guess I speak 'Merican, instead...

Every year in college the first year Physics class always had one or two students that found the secret to perpetual motion. They would connect a generator to a motor and give the shaft a couple thousand turns and wonder why it did not work. Only the Government can accomplish the impossible by spending more money than we have. I forgot that a young lady can do that every month.

Apparently there are a lot of people with much too much time available to post on the use of (sic) and the spelling of apologise. Come on you idiot dorks, do something useful.

All this hub-bub about the mother tongue? Basically, the Brit's posting here have one problem which is insurmountable: they're in Europe, with all the pomposity and ego that go with it. All empty hopes based upon their perceived culture.

What culture? That of being unable to hold a sporting event without beating the crap out of one another because they didn't approve of the outcome? Same with the world realizing that American culure, which is base on virtues other than hanging onto a dubious past, is appealing and successful.

Hey - we have our problems here, no doubt. Starting with electing a nitwit as 'our' chief executive because he is a nitwit.

And as for perpetual motion machines (in order to justify this post): they used to give us problem in thermodynamics class - figuring out why they can't work. It can be, at times subtle, but the laws of physics (and thus, thermodynamics) are more stubborn than even the most determined inventor/quack/scammer.

Motion, yes possibly. Perpetual, also possible. But free energy? I think not.

Recall - we are on a moving magnetospere. Capturing some of the flux of that will potentially drive "something" and can even be capturable and directed.

In the same vane (oops, vain), a windmill is capturing our the detritus of our planetary dynamics in a more easily perceived method.

Were the magnetic force lines visible the mechanism would be clear to all observers.

So Europe has a dubious past? Don't worry, the US is doing its level best to build one. Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq.

As for American culture - when asked what he thought of American culture, the Dalai Lama thought "it would be a good idea"!

As for sport, call American football a game? Big girls with lots of padding - try rugby and see how long you last!

As for nitwits - we had Tony Bliar(sic) up to recently so I can't mouth off there.

That perpetual motion machine probably failed due to the fact the lights were pointed in the wrong direction. The prototype device should be carefully balanced and have the most efficient bearings possible. I often wonder how many were fooled into thinking that they had built a perpetual motion machine that was actually a light engine (like a radiometer) and when observed by many people promptly failed due to the lighting not aimed at the device properly.
But here is a fairly true statement:
The likelihood of a perpetual motion machine operating is inversely squared proportional to the number of observers.

Fred G - not vane or vain ... I think you meant vein ... :-)

FYI: sic stands for "spelling is correct", it does not infer that a mistake was made.

[sic] is actually of Latin origin, and does indeed infer just that.

I have designed a model of perpetual motion device which is very easy to make by using parts of a bicycle I can make this model easily in couple of days and needed a support from some one for spare parts and machine works I live in Pakistan and here in UK for a short visit can I get any opportunity from you I will show my diagram as well I gets an alliance from you I have requested because of knowing you on your site.
Kindly Regards,
Naveed Ahmad Khan
noodikhan@hotmail.com