I confess that in one sense of the word I am consciously a perpetual-motionist ... described a machine by which a steam-engine or water-wheel could produce thirty-five times the heat commonly ...

Leonardo da Vinci, back in 1494, said: Oh ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists. There was a rumor in the 8th ...