There's perhaps some misunderstanding about where "perpetual motion" comes from : it was about Aristotle's metaphysics, the best today's translation for at lea

There's perhaps some misunderstanding about where "perpetual motion" comes from : it was about Aristotle's metaphysics, the best today's translation for at least some of these first devices would probably be "powered by changes in atmospheric pressure" : https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-the-steam-cc8 https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-... (Could skip to "Cornelis Drebbel".) So the term was used more as a synonym for "continuously working", like a water wheel, without presuming any violation of the laws of thermodynamics that had yet to be invented : https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-perpetual-motion https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-perpetual-... (Today we would call that one "a resume-padding buzzword.)