Carl Grossman

Carl Grossman (also referred to as Karl Grossman, Charles Grossman) was an Austro-Hungarian banker and consular agent residing at Proctor, Vermont, who, in the summer of 1910, declared to the press that he had solved the problem of perpetual motion through use of a water valve, developing what he called an aqua-automotor. Some months later, in December 1910, Grossman was reported as having disappeared along with thousands of dollars of the savings of several Austro-Hungarian immigrants from the area.

Press Coverage

 * "Proctor, July 31. &mdash; Carl Grossman, consular agent here for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has evolved a piece of mechanism that, he confidently claims, solves the problem of perpetual motion. The apparatus is so simple, Grossman says, that he wonders why nobody thought of the same principle long ago. Water is what makes the Grossman machine go and, therefore, he has dubbed the apparatus an aqua-automotor. Grossman declares that his machine is started by the opening of a valve, which causes water by gravity to set the apparatus going, and the water is used over and over again. The machine will continue to move indefinitely without assistance from any other source, he says, and will only stop running when the valve is closed. Grossman is an educated man, speaking many languages and being a graduate of one of the best universities in Europe. He is a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army and only recently returned from a trip to Hungary, his home country. He is an associate of Horvath, the Hungarian artist, who produced the mammoth painting of the battle of Trenton, which was exhibited in American cities last year."
 * "Boston, Mass., Aug. 18. &mdash; 'The mystery of perpetual motion is no longer a secret. I have solved it. It has taken 14 years of my life, but now I have reached the goal which I have sought. The world may be skeptical, but I shall convince all. In two weeks my patents will be applied for, and then I shall prove to every one that by means of my perpetual motion invention the entire mechanical system of industry must be entirely revolutionized,' says Karl Grossman, an humble Austrian, living at Proctor, Vt. Grossman today resides in a little cottage on the banks of Otter creek, in Proctor, among the Green mountains. He holds the position of consular agent, and with the meager salary that it brings him he has been forced to subsist and at the same time carry on his work. He says it was the elusiveness which has always attached itself to perpetual motion which drew him to begin experiments. He declares that he had been led on and on, step by step, almost without being aware of it, until he had at last achieved success. He asserts that the whohle world will be startled when it learns of the results which he says his machine will make possible."
 * &mdash; in which Grossman is charged with the theft of thousands of dollars, and a closing note that his friends believed he had "become unbalanced in his study on the question of perpetual motion."
 * "Boston, Mass., Aug. 18. &mdash; 'The mystery of perpetual motion is no longer a secret. I have solved it. It has taken 14 years of my life, but now I have reached the goal which I have sought. The world may be skeptical, but I shall convince all. In two weeks my patents will be applied for, and then I shall prove to every one that by means of my perpetual motion invention the entire mechanical system of industry must be entirely revolutionized,' says Karl Grossman, an humble Austrian, living at Proctor, Vt. Grossman today resides in a little cottage on the banks of Otter creek, in Proctor, among the Green mountains. He holds the position of consular agent, and with the meager salary that it brings him he has been forced to subsist and at the same time carry on his work. He says it was the elusiveness which has always attached itself to perpetual motion which drew him to begin experiments. He declares that he had been led on and on, step by step, almost without being aware of it, until he had at last achieved success. He asserts that the whohle world will be startled when it learns of the results which he says his machine will make possible."
 * &mdash; in which Grossman is charged with the theft of thousands of dollars, and a closing note that his friends believed he had "become unbalanced in his study on the question of perpetual motion."