Redheffer's Perpetual Motion Machines: Some people reach for the stars with their hoaxes, while others just strive to build fake perpetual motion machines. Charles Redheffer was in that latter camp. He toured his device around the country, charging exorbitant prices for viewings. Sadly, though, when an engineer investigated, he found that Redheffer's "perpetual motion device" was actually being operated by a man in the other room with a hand crank.