Charles Redheffer was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who claimed to have invented a

perpetual motion Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, a ...

machine. First appearing in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Redheffer exhibited his machine to the public, charging high prices for viewing. When he applied to the government for more money, a group of inspectors were sent to examine the machine. It was discovered the machine was actually powered by a device Redheffer claimed was powered by the machine. Redheffer moved to New York City and set up a similar

scam A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

after rebuilding his machine. However, an engineer detected that it was a fake by listening to its unsteady motions at an exhibition. He discovered that the machine was operated by a man using a crank in a room on the floor above. Redheffer returned to Philadelphia. He later claimed to have created another machine, but refused to demonstrate it to anyone. He managed to get a patent for his machine in 1820, but after this his fate is unknown.

Personal life

Little has been recorded about Redheffer's life, other than his connection to the hoax. According to one source, he was from

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

, but most sources simply state that he appeared in Philadelphia with his machine. Redheffer disappeared from public view after the discovery of the fraud, and his fate is unknown.

Appearance in Philadelphia

Charles Redheffer and his machine became well known in Philadelphia in 1812. Redheffer claimed he had invented a

machine and exhibited it in a house near the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...

in the outskirts of the city.Ord-Hume, p.126 He charged an admission fee of $5 (some sources claim $1) for men to view it; depending on the source, women were admitted free or at a charge of $1. The machine caused a sensation, and Redheffer lobbied for funds to build a larger version. On January 21, 1813, eight city commissioners visited Redheffer to inspect the machine. They had to do so through a barred window, as Redheffer was concerned anyone going near the machine might damage it. One of the inspectors, Nathan Sellers, was accompanied by his son Coleman, who noticed something odd about the

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...

s. The machine itself was said to be powering a separate device through a series of gears and weights. Coleman noticed that the cogs were worn on the wrong side and suggested that the device was in fact powering the machine. The elder Sellers was convinced the machine was a hoax. To validate his suspicions, he hired local engineer Isaiah Lukens to build a similar machine, using a hidden

clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or weight. A clockwork mec ...

motor as a power source. They then arranged a demonstration of the machine to Redheffer, who was immediately convinced and offered to buy it. Meanwhile, Redheffer's machine appeared in the '' Philadelphia Gazette''. Civil engineer Charles Gobort offered to bet sums of money ranging from $6,000 to $10,000 that the machine was genuine, and that Redheffer had discovered perpetual motion.

Move to New York City

His ruse revealed, Redheffer immediately departed for New York City where he was still unknown. He changed his machine somewhat so that it could not be detected as easily, and he exhibited it as he had done in Philadelphia. When mechanical engineer

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

went to see the machine, he noticed that the machine was unsteady as if someone were driving it manually and irregularly with a crank. Fulton also detected that the sound was uneven, uncharacteristic of a machine's motions. He announced the machine was a fraud, and challenged Redheffer exclaiming he would expose the secret power source, otherwise he would pay for all the damage he would cause. Redheffer agreed, so Fulton removed some boards from the wall alongside the machine and exposed a

catgut Catgut (also known as gut) is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fiber found in the walls of animal Gut (anatomy), intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, Domest ...

cord that led to the upper floor. Upstairs he found an old man who was turning a hand-crank with one hand and eating bread with the other. Spectators realized they had been duped and destroyed the machine; Redheffer fled the city.

Later appearances

Redheffer appears to have constructed another machine in 1816, which he stated his intention to demonstrate to a group of men including the mayor and chief justice of Philadelphia. However, despite several meetings, Redheffer refused to demonstrate the machine to them. On July 11, 1820, the

U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

granted a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

to Charles Redheffer (or Charles Redheiffer) for a device listed as "machinery for the purpose of gaining power".Force, p.145 (All patents up to 1836 were lost in the 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire. If recovered, it would be X-Patent X3,215.)

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Redheffer, Charles Hoaxes in science Hoaxes in the United States Perpetual motion 19th-century hoaxes Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown