A permanent magnet motor having three chambers aligned end to end where each chamber has a bar magnet. The north pole of the bar magnet in the center chamber faces the north pole of the bar magnet in the chamber to its right and the south pole of the bar magnet in the center chamber faces the south pole of the bar magnet in the chamber to its left. Structure is provided to move the end magnets away from the center magnet and, by means of springs, alternately sequentially snap the end magnets toward the center magnet to drive the center magnet back and forth in its chamber. Shaft members which are connected to gears are provided to control the movement of the end magnets and to convert the back and forth motion of the center magnet to a rotary motion.