265 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
265 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=1, RM=70, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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PMOTION2.ASC
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This is a story from a book called FOIBLES AND FALLACIES OF
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SCIENCE, written by Mr.Daniel Hering in 1924.
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History relates several types of perpetual motion machines. The
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inventor's motives range from the ideal of pure invention to an
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attempt to defraud the public. Perpetual motion machines have been
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traced back for several hundred years.
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As of this date there has been no known account of a working
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perpetual motion machine which can be built and demonstrated by
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anyone other than the inventor. Although, we have heard many
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claims, we have yet to see a working model. This does not rule
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out the possibility that one could actually be made and
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practically demonstrated.
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The U.S.Patent Office receives about one hundred applications a
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year on perpetual motion machines but they are usually rejected by
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the office, without research into their workability.
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The keywords which bring about the rejection are perpetual motion.
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contributed by Ron Barker
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THE REDHEFFER FIASCO
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One American invention played a conspicuous if not very
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creditable part among perpetual motion machines. This was the
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invention of Charles Redheffer who exhibited it in Philadelphia in
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1812 and 1813. Although it continued in operation apparently as
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long as its maker desired, it was perhaps not inherently more or
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less plausible than some others but it became une cause celebre.
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There were two circumstances connected with it that gave it
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celebrity, and entitle it to special notice: It created so much of
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a furore that the legislature of Pennsylvania thought it worth
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while to appoint a commission. This was a dignity to which such
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machines rarely attained. The other circumstance was the
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exceedingly clever way in which the fraudulent character of the
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machine was twice detected; once, by the eye, trained to observe
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the niceties of mechanical action; and once, by the ear, skilled
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to detect any peculiarity in the sound of moving machinery. At an
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appointed time the commission visited the house in which the
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machine was exhibited, on the Schuykill near Philadelphia, but
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arrived there only to find the house locked and the key missing.
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They did not get the opportunity to examine the machine and
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could only inspect it through a barred window. They saw a vertical
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shaft carrying a horizontal disc on which two inclined planes bore
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weighted cars that descended and rose at certain points in the
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rotation of the disc. This action of the planes and cars drove the
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shaft and disc which, in its turn, propelled further mechanism.
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The horizontal disc was a spur wheel and the teeth in its edge
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engaged with those of a smaller wheel and so, ostensibly, drove
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the rest of the machinery.
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One of the visiting commissioners, Mr. Nathan Sellers, took
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with him his young son, Coleman Sellers, who was a mechanical
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genius, and was keenly interested in the whole affair. Young
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Sellers saw something that escaped the others; his attention was
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caught by the appearance of the cogs in these two wheels. They
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were not much worn, only smoothed a little, but what little effect
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of rubbing together they did show was on the wrong side of the
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cogs!
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The faces of the cogs that will show wear depends upon which
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wheel is driving the other and, in this instance, the small wheel
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proved to be driving the larger. If the fact is the reverse of
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this, as it was represented to be, then to the mechanic whose eye
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detects this discrepancy, such a machine would appear to be
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running backwards. Although the source of propulsion was not
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discovered the deception was unmistakable. After returning home
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the young man told his father what he had discovered; the latter
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then employed a skilful mechanic to make a small model just like
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the Redheffer machine, but propelled by a clockwork mechanism
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concealed in an ornamental post of the framework. This mode
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exactly duplicated the behavior of the larger machine, to the
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astonishment and mystification of Redheffer himself to whom
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Sellers showed it.
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Conscious of his own trickery he was scared by the idea that
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another had actually achieved what he pretended to do, and
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proposed to buy out young Sellers, offering him a handsome share
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in the profits to be derived from the machine.
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(See Article on the Redheffer Perpetual Motion Machine, by
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Henry Morton, in the Journal of the Franklin Institute,
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Vol. 139, 1895, p.246.)
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An exposure like this which did not actually reveal the
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secret of the machine was not sufficient to check the interest of
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those who wanted to believe in it, and the exhibitions were
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continued. In 1813, soon after the fiasco in Philadelphia, this
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same machine or a duplicate of it was placed on exhibition in New
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York, where it was to meet its second reverse, The sequel is well
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told by Mr. C. D. Colden in his Life of Robert Fulton.
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" One of these perpetual motions," says Mr. Colden, speaking
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of the Redheffer machine, "commenced its career in this
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city" (New York), "in eighteen hundred and thirteen. Mr.
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Fulton was a perfect unbeliever in Redheffer's discovery,
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and although hundreds were daily paying their dollar to see
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the wonder, Mr. Fulton could not be prevailed upon for
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some time to follow the crowd. After a few days, however,
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he was induced by some of his friends to visit the machine.
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It was in an isolated house in the suburbs of the city.
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" In a very short time after Mr. Fulton had entered the room
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in which it was exhibited, he exclaimed, `why, this is a
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crank motion.' His ear enabled him to distinguish that the
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machine was moved by a crank, which always gives an unequal
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power, and therefore an unequal velocity in the course of
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each revolution; and a nice and practised ear may perceive
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that the sound is not uniform. If the machine had been kept
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in motion by what was its ostensible moving power, it must
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have had an equable rotary motion, and the sound would have
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been always the same.
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" After some little conversation with the showman, Mr.
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Fulton did not hesitate to declare, that the machine was an
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imposition, and to tell the gentleman that he was an
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impostor.
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" Notwithstanding the anger and bluster which these charges
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excited, he assured the company that the thing was a cheat,
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and that if they would support him in the attempt, he would
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detect it at the risk of paying any penalty if he failed.
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" Having obtained the assent of all who were present, he
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began by knocking away some very thin little pieces of
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lath, which appeared to be no part of the machinery, but to
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go from the frame of the machine to the wall of the room,
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merely to keep the corner posts of the machine steady.
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" It was found that a catgut string was led through one of
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these laths and the frame of he machine, to the head of the
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upright shaft of a principal wheel: that the catgut was
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conducted through the wall, and along the floors of the
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second story to a back cockloft, at a distance of a number
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of yards from the room which contained the machine, and
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there was found the moving power. This was a poor old
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wretch, with an immense beard and all the appearance of
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having suffered a long imprisonment; who when they broke in
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upon him, was unconscious of what had happened below, and
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who, while he was seated on a stool, gnawing a crust, was
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with one hand turning a crank.
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" The proprietor of the perpetual motion soon disappeared.
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The mob demolished his machine, the destruction of which
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immediately put a stop to that which had been, for so long
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a time, and to so much profit, exhibited in Philadelphia!"
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Besides the numberless variations in the methods of applying
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the principles of mechanics to secure a return of more power than
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is expended to secure a return of more power than is expended on
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the machine, consciously or unconsciously the principles of
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thermodynamics were invoked by inventors for the same purpose. The
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fallacy was the same. Only two generalizations are needed to
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comprise all known principles of heat in connection with work, and
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these are called the two laws of thermodynamics. They are to the
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effect that (1) a definite amount of heat has an exact equivalent
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in a definite amount of mechanical work, and either of these can
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be transformed into the other; (2) if by any means we cause heat
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to be transferred from some outside source; no self-acting machine
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will do it of itself.
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While the first of these laws is universally and unreservedly
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accepted, the second has always been a subject of dispute and
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still is so. The desire to get something for nothing and the
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belief in the possibility of dong so are too strong to yield to a
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dictum the demolition of which would seem to assure this
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possibility. To disprove a law by a process of reasoning is one
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thing, to violate it by a process of action is another. In theory
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the law has been controverted repeatedly, and disproved, at least
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in the opinion of the controverts, and if it could only be
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violated in practice the perpetual motion could be obtained ; the
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" working model " demanded by the Patent Office might be
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forthcoming.
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Submitted by: Ronald Barker,
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Vangard Sciences
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***** SPECIAL NOTE *****
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There are several other articles on the Keelynet BBS that you can
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download on perpetual motion.
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1. KeelHoax.ASC = The Story of Keely being a Hoax.
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2. Pmotion1.ASC = Overall history of Perpetual Motion.
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3. Pmotion2.ASC = The Redhffer Fiasco Story.
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4. Pmotion3.ASC = The Liquefaction of Air and The Hopes It
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Aroused: Perpetual Motion of The Second
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Kind.
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Jerry Decker and I will be working on some drawings that can be
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included into some of the articles. The current problem involves
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the time necessary to scan and edit the images as well as choosing
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the graphic formats (.PCX, .TIF, etc..) to use which will allow
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everyone to view them easily.
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Ron Barker
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L
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