Letter from Beaumont, Gloucester House, to Sir Joseph Banks Mr Beaumont, equerry to the Duke of Gloucester, recommends to Banks a "remarkable genius", a shoemaker named Joseph Smith, who has invented a machine with a single wheel by a new principle which seems to achieve perpetual motion; it has been in motion for two months and seems likely to continue indefinitely. A note by Banks on the letter states he has received a note from the Duke of Gloucester urging him to prevent any but the real inventor being rewarded. 14 April 1790