Aaron Frey
From Kook Science
Aaron Frey (July 8, 1835 - February 26, 1919) was an American farmer who was reported to have devised a perpetual motion machine in 1903 while resident at Elrod, South Dakota. Little seems to have come of the claims, but Frey was reported in early 1907 to have continued his mechanical efforts after relocating to Okmulgee, Indian Territory (which became Oklahoma later that year), devising a wind-powered engine, one that he explicitly denied was perpetual motion as-such, and which was to have been constructed by W. O. Funk of the same city, though it is unclear whether this was ever done.
Press Coverage
- "ELROD MAN HAS PERPETUAL MOTION: Aaron Frey Thinks He Has at Last Solved the Problem.", Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD): 9, 7 Apr. 1903, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121256438/elrod-man-has-perpetual-motion-aaron/
- "MACHINE Furnishes Its Own Power Says an Okmulgee Inventor", Muskogee Times-Democrat (Muskogee, Indian Territory): 2, 16 Feb. 1907, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121256512/machine-furnishes-its-own-power-says-an/