Anchorless winch

I've been busy doing a spring cleaning, weeding out my research files. In the hope that I won't discard anything of great value I've concentrated especially on my "X-files." Among other things Norman L. Dean thought he had invented an anchorless winch.* Hung as a pendulum the winch did not move as it pulled a load toward it. Dean thought that he had demonstrated new physics, the non simultaneity of action and reaction. In reality the load's contact with the ground serves as the anchor. Inside the winch an asymmetrically oscillating mass, M, first exerts a push on the load, F1, for a time period T1. The load doesn't move provided that F1 is less than the static frictional force needed to move the load across the ground. During this time an impulse F1T1 is delivered to the ground in the direction of F1. This serves as the "anchor." The mass, M, continues to oscillate, now pulling on the load with a force F2 for a time T2. Now the load moves provided that F2 is larger than the static frictional force needed to move it across the surface. F2>F1. F2 delivers an impulse F2T2 to the load and moves it in the direction of F2. The load is given a net momentum in the direction toward the winch while the winch itself remains stationary. (M is oscillating inside the winch.) Conservation of momentum is not violated since a net impulse has been delivered to the ground via frictional forces.

* One reference is Popular Mechanics magazine, September 1961, page 132.