George H. Furman

George H. Furman (1831-1897) was an American farmer who received U.S. Patent No. 301,979 for his Improved Motor in 1884, a design that was essentially a perpetual motion machine, though Furman ambiguously asserted it was intended only for "gaining power." The Furman motor consisted of a cogged inner and outer wheel, the cogs filled with shot pellets, which would fall from the inner to the outer wheel as it rotated, and then back to the inner, gaining momentum as it went; the design was reported to have failed to work in practice, in spite of the magic of having a patent.