Maker of Magnetic Motor Describes It, Eliminates Humbug

MOTOR MAKER EXPLAINS HIS NEW DEVICE

Pittsburgh, Feb. 17 — (AP) — Peter J. Hendershot, 29-year-old West Elizabeth, Pa., inventor, whose fuelless motor has gained the interest of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and others prominent in the aviation world, wants the “humbug” eliminated from reports of his invention, which he developed while experimenting on an effort to produce an improved compass.

“Make it clear to the world,” he said, in commenting on stories giving various descriptions of his invention, “that radio and the allied phenomena have nothing to do with my motor. The force that turns my motor is the basic force that pulls the needle of a compass around — and there is nothing mysterious about that.”

Tried To Make True Compass

Hendershot revealed that when he took up aviation three years ago he discovered that the “ultimate development of aviation depended largely upon the discovery or invention of an absolutely true and reliable compass” and that his first experiments were an effort to develop such an instrument.

“The ordinary magnetic compass does not point to the true north — it points to the magnetic north, and varies from true north to a greater or lesser degree at almost every point on the earth’s surface.

“There is another compass, the magnetic induction compass, that indicates the true north. But it must be set before each flight and it is not always reliable. I really got down to work on the idea about a year ago, and last Fall I began to see that I was headed towards my goal.

“I found that with a pre-magnetized core I could set up a magnetic field that would indicate the true north, but I didn’t know just how to utilize that in a compass I set out to find.

“In continuing my experiments I learned that by cutting the same great magnetic force circulating with, I had an indicator of the true north, and that by cutting a magnetic field east and west I could develop a rotary motion.

Speed Is Constant

“I now have a motor built on a principle that will rotate at a constant speed, a speed predetermined when the motor is built. It can be built for any desired speed and a reliable constant speed motor is one of the greatest needs of aviation.

“The motor I demonstrated at Detroit has a speed of 1,800 revolutions a minute and develops 45 horsepower on a block. The motor now is in New York.”

Asked what he intended doing with his motor, Hendershot said he had decided to do nothing without first consulting the Guggenheim Foundation and his attorney, Col. Henry Breckinridge, who also is Colonel Lindbergh’s attorney.

Hendershot will go to New York Tuesday to confer with Colonel Lindbergh and his backers, he said. He denied knowledge of a corporation reported to be in the process of formation to exploit his invention.