The Keely Filethe man, not the motor.
John Ernst Worrell Keely was a Philadelphia inventor whose motor filled newspapers from the 1870s until late 1898. Pennsylvania lists the Keely Motor Company with an initial filing of 12/02/1874. The Library of Congress holds an 1879 incorporation print and stock certificate. Three newspapers reported that Keely was jailed in November 1888; the court docket is still missing. Birth and death certificates are not yet in this archive. This is a biography file. Device history lives at keelymotor.com.
The Keely File is original furniture of johnkeely.com. Stamps classify what a cited record can carry. The motor, demonstrations, and 1899 lab exposé remain at keelymotor.com.
File JK-001
Pull a tab. Read the stamp.
Six sheets sit in one biographical jacket. Opening a tab does not change the evidence; it only brings that sheet to the front. The same six sheets are printed below for readers without JavaScript.
Sheets opened: 1 / 6
Documented
1870s–1890s · portrait ca. 1895
The public man, without a vital record
Contemporaneous press; Library of Congress company prints; circa-1895 portrait
The record shows. Keely is a named figure in 1870s–1890s newspapers and corporate imagery. A circa-1895 photographic portrait is preserved in this archive. The Keely Motor Company appears under his name in Pennsylvania’s portal and on 1879 Library of Congress prints.
It does not show. Census entries, city directories, birth and death certificates, and family details are not yet in the provenance log. Supportive biographies (including Bloomfield H. Moore, 1893) are not substitutes for civil registration.
Press
1874–1898
What the papers printed about the man
Scientific American 1874–1881; Chronicling America and state newspaper repositories
The record shows. Technical and general newspapers treated Keely as a public character for more than twenty years. Scientific American listed Keely-motor items from 1874 through 1881, including repeated 1875–1876 “Keely Motor Deception” headings. Regional papers carried the story into the late 1890s, including satire such as Life’s “Patent Keely Motor Elephant” cartoon (11 Aug 1898).
It does not show. Press coverage documents publicity, not a working engine. Page-level OCR still needs verification against several scans. This sheet does not catalog apparatus. For demonstrations and claimed physics, use keelymotor.com.
Documented
12/02/1874 · prints 1879
The company as a biographical fact
PA Department of State portal, control ID 0006102665; Library of Congress 1879 print and stock certificate
The record shows. Pennsylvania lists KEELY MOTOR COMPANY with initial filing 12/02/1874, filing type County Orphan, status Active - County Orphan. The Library of Congress holds an 1879 incorporation print and an 1879 stock certificate. Those records place Keely inside a capitalized Pennsylvania enterprise.
It does not show. Portal metadata is not the original charter. PA State Archives RG-026 articles, charter-book entry, and letters patent remain a records request. Stock certificates hosted on Internet Archive still need provenance checks. Device catalog, stock saga, and 1899 exposé belong at keelymotor.com.
Press
November 1888
November 1888: three papers, no docket
Savannah Morning News; The Charlotte Democrat; Charleston News and Courier
The record shows. Three independent newspapers reported that Keely was sent to jail in November 1888: Savannah Morning News (GA) 18 Nov 1888 p.1; The Charlotte Democrat (NC) 23 Nov 1888 p.3; The News and Courier (Charleston, SC) 29 Nov 1888 p.4. This archive treats those scans as primary evidence that the event was reported, not as a completed legal file.
It does not show. The court docket, order, jurisdiction, and charge are not in hand. Suppression, shutdown, or seizure stories elsewhere on the web remain allegations until a primary order appears. OCR of the three pages still needs line-level verification against the PDFs.
Supportive
1893 · press 1895
Bloomfield Moore’s account, labeled as supportive
Bloomfield H. Moore, Keely and His Discoveries (1893); Evening Bulletin (Maysville), 6 Nov 1895
The record shows. Clara Bloomfield-Moore’s circle produced the 1893 book Keely and His Discoveries, a detailed contemporary narrative of Keely’s claimed work. The Evening Bulletin of Maysville, Kentucky (6 Nov 1895, p.4) reported a transfer of Mrs. Bloomfield Moore’s Keely Motor Company interests to John Jacob Astor. Those items document patronage and publicity.
It does not show. A supportive book is testimony, not independent validation of a mechanism. The 1895 Astor transfer is a newspaper report, not a recorded deed in this archive. Do not read this sheet as a how-to for sympathetic vibratory physics.
Gap
Open
What this jacket still cannot stamp
Biography TODO; records requests; USPTO identity check
The record shows. The file can show what is missing: civil birth and death records; city-directory and census addresses; the 1888 court docket; PA State Archives RG-026 charter images; and whether U.S. patents 118,022 (John W. Keely, fly-wheel, 1871) and 437,017 (John E. Keely, chemical compound, 1890) belong to John Ernst Worrell Keely.
It does not show. A gap is not secret proof. Secondary retellings and later free-energy lore are not used to fill dates. Patent scans exist; inventor identity stays Unconfirmed until biographical corroboration. Motor internals stay off this page.
Identity open
This archive
Biography and evidence map
johnkeely.com keeps the person: identity questions, company as a biographical fact, 1888 jail press, patronage, and the records still missing. Start here when the query is “who was John Keely?”
Sibling site
The motor stays next door
Apparatus names, demonstration reports, sympathetic vibratory physics as claimed, the stock saga, and the 1899 lab exposé are owned by keelymotor.com. This jacket will not clone that desk.
How to walk the jacket
Stamps before lore.
- Open one tab. Read the stamp before the narrative.
- Treat “Documented” as an institutional or official anchor, “Press” as contemporaneous reporting, and “Supportive” as a partisan contemporary account.
- Follow the source link. Cite the underlying record, not only this jacket.
- If the question is about the machine, leave this file and open keelymotor.com.
Jacket inventory
Every sheet, with the boundary still attached.
The interactive jacket is a reading desk. The inventory is the citation surface. No-JavaScript readers get the same record.
Documented
The public man, without a vital record
1870s–1890s · portrait ca. 1895
The record shows. Keely is a named figure in 1870s–1890s newspapers and corporate imagery. A circa-1895 photographic portrait is preserved in this archive. The Keely Motor Company appears under his name in Pennsylvania’s portal and on 1879 Library of Congress prints.
It does not show. Census entries, city directories, birth and death certificates, and family details are not yet in the provenance log. Supportive biographies (including Bloomfield H. Moore, 1893) are not substitutes for civil registration.
Press
What the papers printed about the man
1874–1898
The record shows. Technical and general newspapers treated Keely as a public character for more than twenty years. Scientific American listed Keely-motor items from 1874 through 1881, including repeated 1875–1876 “Keely Motor Deception” headings. Regional papers carried the story into the late 1890s, including satire such as Life’s “Patent Keely Motor Elephant” cartoon (11 Aug 1898).
It does not show. Press coverage documents publicity, not a working engine. Page-level OCR still needs verification against several scans. This sheet does not catalog apparatus. For demonstrations and claimed physics, use keelymotor.com.
Documented
The company as a biographical fact
12/02/1874 · prints 1879
The record shows. Pennsylvania lists KEELY MOTOR COMPANY with initial filing 12/02/1874, filing type County Orphan, status Active - County Orphan. The Library of Congress holds an 1879 incorporation print and an 1879 stock certificate. Those records place Keely inside a capitalized Pennsylvania enterprise.
It does not show. Portal metadata is not the original charter. PA State Archives RG-026 articles, charter-book entry, and letters patent remain a records request. Stock certificates hosted on Internet Archive still need provenance checks. Device catalog, stock saga, and 1899 exposé belong at keelymotor.com.
Press
November 1888: three papers, no docket
November 1888
The record shows. Three independent newspapers reported that Keely was sent to jail in November 1888: Savannah Morning News (GA) 18 Nov 1888 p.1; The Charlotte Democrat (NC) 23 Nov 1888 p.3; The News and Courier (Charleston, SC) 29 Nov 1888 p.4. This archive treats those scans as primary evidence that the event was reported, not as a completed legal file.
It does not show. The court docket, order, jurisdiction, and charge are not in hand. Suppression, shutdown, or seizure stories elsewhere on the web remain allegations until a primary order appears. OCR of the three pages still needs line-level verification against the PDFs.
Supportive
Bloomfield Moore’s account, labeled as supportive
1893 · press 1895
The record shows. Clara Bloomfield-Moore’s circle produced the 1893 book Keely and His Discoveries, a detailed contemporary narrative of Keely’s claimed work. The Evening Bulletin of Maysville, Kentucky (6 Nov 1895, p.4) reported a transfer of Mrs. Bloomfield Moore’s Keely Motor Company interests to John Jacob Astor. Those items document patronage and publicity.
It does not show. A supportive book is testimony, not independent validation of a mechanism. The 1895 Astor transfer is a newspaper report, not a recorded deed in this archive. Do not read this sheet as a how-to for sympathetic vibratory physics.
Gap
What this jacket still cannot stamp
Open
The record shows. The file can show what is missing: civil birth and death records; city-directory and census addresses; the 1888 court docket; PA State Archives RG-026 charter images; and whether U.S. patents 118,022 (John W. Keely, fly-wheel, 1871) and 437,017 (John E. Keely, chemical compound, 1890) belong to John Ernst Worrell Keely.
It does not show. A gap is not secret proof. Secondary retellings and later free-energy lore are not used to fill dates. Patent scans exist; inventor identity stays Unconfirmed until biographical corroboration. Motor internals stay off this page.
FAQ
Direct answers for high-intent questions.
Who was John Keely?
John Ernst Worrell Keely was a Philadelphia inventor whose motor claims occupied U.S. newspapers from the 1870s through late 1898. This archive documents him from corporate filings, Library of Congress prints, contemporaneous press, and a circa-1895 portrait. It does not yet hold birth or death certificates. The claimed motor is a separate file at keelymotor.com.
Was John Keely a real person?
Yes. He appears as a named public figure in 1870s–1890s newspapers, on an 1879 Library of Congress incorporation print and stock certificate for the Keely Motor Company, and in a circa-1895 photographic portrait preserved via an institutional image source. Reality of the person is not the same as reality of the claimed mechanism.
When did John Keely die?
This archive does not yet hold a civil death certificate, obituary clipping with verified page citation, or cemetery record. Late-1898 newspapers continue the motor story, including coverage in November and December 1898. Until a vital record is logged with provenance, an exact death date stays a gap, not a fact this file can stamp Documented.
Did John Keely go to jail?
Three independent newspapers reported in November 1888 that Keely was sent to jail: Savannah Morning News (Nov 18, p.1), The Charlotte Democrat (Nov 23, p.3), and The News and Courier of Charleston (Nov 29, p.4). Those are contemporaneous press records of an event. The underlying court docket or order is still missing, so the legal basis and jurisdiction remain open.
What was the Keely Motor Company?
Pennsylvania’s business-search portal lists KEELY MOTOR COMPANY, control ID 0006102665, initial filing 12/02/1874, status Active - County Orphan. The Library of Congress holds an 1879 print titled “Incorporated by the State of Pennsylvania / Keely motor company” and an 1879 stock certificate. Original charter images from PA State Archives RG-026 are still a records request. Company-as-device belongs at keelymotor.com.
Was the Keely Motor a hoax?
That is a device question, not a biography question. Scientific American ran repeated “Keely Motor Deception” items in 1875–1876, and later press and satire treated the motor as a public spectacle. This file will not retry the 1899 lab exposé. Read the machine, demonstrations, and exposé at keelymotor.com. This jacket stays on the man.
Accessed 19 September 2026. Cite the Library of Congress item, Pennsylvania portal record, newspaper page, or Gutenberg transcription, not only this desk.