Solving Bessler’s Wheel - What Is Your Dream?

I wonder how many of us engaged in the search for the solution to Bessler’s wheel, - or, come to that, the solution to creating a perpetual motion machine - have an idea or dream, of what their lives might be like if and when they succeed? Is it fame and fortune, or the supreme pleasure gained from seeing the so-called experts who dismissed our ideas from the outset, proven utterly and disastrously wrong? Maybe just a simple acknowledgement that you did it; or perhaps the earnest hope that it would provide a potential solution to the climate-warming proponents. 

Many people plan to patent the design, but not I, because the cost of maintaining intellectual copyright would be an onerous and expensive task.  There is another aspect to it that may or may not become a problem for a would-be patentee.

It has been suggested that Bessler discovered the only configuration that could produce a continuously rotating gravity-enabled wheel.  If, as has been suggested by many people, including myself, that Bessler embedded the design of his wheel in plain sight in some drawings he left for us, good enough for someone with a discerning mind to find and copy, then surely if true, then any working device produced in the near future would have a similar configuration to Bessler’s. Seeing as Bessler published the design, albeit disguised, more than 300 years ago, would that preclude the granting of a patent?

JC

UPDATE - Fabricate is Better than Simulate - For me anyway.

 A few months ago I was persuaded to share my latest thinking on finding a solution to Bessler's wheel.  I posted a design I had been working on at the time, but the action generated by each falling weight was slow and  cumbersome.  Although it generated some discussion I knew before I posted the details it was never going to work, regardless of any alterations I made to the design.  My inclusion of five sets of scissor mechanisms was too much for a light weight design, intended to react instantly and easily.  So I thought long and hard about simplifying the problem and I came up with an improved mechanism.

But this improvement sparked a completely different design, one that I’m busy installing on the old MDF disc which serves as basis for all my designs. I can’t show you yet, because it’s not finished, but I’m just making a point here about working with actual mechanisms, which I’ve done all my life.  It’s so much more rewarding using actual physical material rather than relying on simming actions alone.  This new design occurred to me during the process of improving an action already built. Yes, sims have their place I suppose, although if you’ve got a working model, why would you bother to sim it - if you could?  But I  can’t anyway.

So the model currently under construction requires adjustments to enable the fall of a weight to move the mechanism, easily.  Sounds familiar but this is definitely not the same problem.  Getting the pivot points in the right place takes some trial and error, not error actually, just an improved lift.

Anyway I’ll update you all on my progress as often as I can, this design is not one I’ve seen before so I’m hopeful that this time it’s a good one. It looks right on paper, but getting the sizes of the levers right and their pivot points right is not so easy.

:JC

Johann Bessler's Books and my Biography of Johann Bessler. (AKA Orffyreus)

 The Legend of Bessler’s Wheel or the Orffyreus Wheel and the verifiable facts.

Very Briefly  - In 1715 Johann Bessler announced that he had invented a perpetual motion device.  To prove the authenticity of his claim, he arranged a number of tests that his machine underwent in public. These tests were designed to be impossible unless the machine was genuine.  The device took the form of a wheel attached to an axle.  Each end of the axle had a bearing.  Each bearing consisted of a brass or steel shaft which sat in an open cradle, lubricated by animal fats. The whole assembly was supported by a pair of wooden pillars.

Tests included lifting the wheel and axle assembly from one pair of pillars to a second set a few steps away. Other tests included raising a heavy weight (approx. 70 lbs) from ground lever to the top of the castle at Hesse Kassel. (approx. 50 feet) An endurance test was arranged where the wheel was locked and sealed in room for 54 days.  The wheel was found to be still spinning when the room was reopened. Another test showed that Bessler’s wheel could drive an Archimedes pump.  Later on Bessler introduced his bi-directional wheel, able to turn in either direction. Karl approved all the tests and issued a certificate describing the tests.  Each certificate was signed by all those present.

If this was all the proof available, some might dismiss the inventor’s claims by assuming some trickery was involved, but every test was accompanied by many spectators; several official tests were carried out by senior officials, mathematicians and well known scientists, including Christian Wolff, Gottfried Leibniz, s’Gravesand, and Friedrick Hoffman.  

From the beginning Bessler sought the patronage of a member of the ruling class, one who could be relied upon to be a man of utter integrity and honesty.  That man proved to Karl the Landgrave of Hesse  Kassel.  Before he would offer his patronage, he insisted on verifying for his own satisfaction that the wheel was genuine, this Bessler reluctantly agreed to, and he swore on oath never to reveal the secret of the wheel before the inventor had sold his machine for a large sum of money.  Karl published a certificate confirming Bessler’s wheel was genuine.

Bessler never succeeded in selling his machine, probably because the price was too high and the conditions of the sale too harsh to be accepted.

Bessler left many hints that the information about how his wheel worked was encoded in his books.  You can read some of the codes I have deciphered at one of my websites at ……….

The Orffyreus Code

I have spent more than 50 years of my 80 years researching the history of this man, and the evidence that he was honest is overwhelming.  I have supporters from all around the world trying to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.  There is lot of information to be found within the books I’ve listed below.  There are some websites which also post the latest discussions on Bessler’s codes.

I think that the more we speculate the more confusion we add. Speculation can sometimes be taken as fact and if more ideas are added, that can compound the problem. I’m not promoting my books as the ultimate source of information on Bessler because there are so many historical documents which remain unexplored due to their poor condition or because they are lost in numerous private libraries. But for now they provide a quick and easy source of information on Johann Bessler and his perpetual motion machine.       

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Even though I published my biography of Johann Bessler several years ago, the information in it has not altered, because it is based on old documents written more than 300 years ago. There are new additional facts which need to be added at some point but they are details about his later life and although of interest do not impinge on the history of his perpetual motion machine. There are also Bessler’s own books which he published which cover his life in his own words and provide much information. The only other thing relevant to his story which I didn’t publish are two critiques written by his enemy, Christian Wagner and they are freely available in English at my main website, see below.

www.free-energy.co.uk 

In the left panel, click on either of the two buttons which say, 

“Wagner’s Critique 1” and “Wagner’s Critique 2”

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What follows is a list of my books, all but my biography were originally produced by Bessler to which I added a full English translation. The books are available in both hard copy and also as a digital PDF file.  The digital file allows easy searches for words and names.

I hope that people will continue to use these books as a source of accurate information in their journey of discovery to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

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1) “Perpetual Motion: An Ancient Mystery Solved?”  View the synopsis for details of the book’s contents at my web site. http://www.free-energy.co.uk/html/synopsis.html.  Briefly it is an account taken from of every document relating to Bessler that I could find from files held in museums around the world, researched and translated. 

Buy Now

    http://payhip.com/b/7Yvl

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2) “Apologia Poetica”   This was Bessler’s account of his life up until the time of Karl the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel’s patronage. The book contains the original German transcribed into a modern font and includes a full English translation at the rear. I would have preferred to include the original German font but it was in such poor condition that it would have been unreadable. This book contains some allusions to secret codes hidden within the book itself.  

Buy Now

  http://payhip.com/b/oz54

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3) “Das Triumphans Perpetuum Mobile “- this was Bessler’s most professionally finished book. It was written in both German and Latin and this edition is a faithful reproduction of the actual pages of the original book. It also includes a full English translation at the rear. A number of drawings are included by the original author and these are said to contain a number of clues as to his machine’s workings.

Buy Now

  http://payhip.com/b/DNUe

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4) “Gruendlicher Bericht” - this was Bessler’s first publication, ostensibly produced by a friend although I think one can detect Bessler’s handiwork in places. This copy is also in the original German and includes a full English translation at the rear. It also includes the very first drawing which Bessler published and this also contains clues to the way his machine worked.

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  http://payhip.com/b/dahj

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5) “Maschinen Tractate” - this was found in the Bessler’s possessions after his death, in the form of a number of pages (141) and which contained a message on the front of the volume which stated that he had removed the drawings which depicted how his machine worked but that some one with a penetrating mind could, by studying several drawings, ultimately discover the secret of its construction. I have reproduced the drawings as they were found.  I included his handwritten notes with the best translation I could obtain, since the writing is very hard to read.

Buy Now

   http://payhip.com/b/F8ZS

________________________________________________________________

JC

Copyright © 2026 John Collins.

Update and Some Stats.

Recently I speculated that Bessler might have found two different solutions to his wheel, but I’ve been doing work on this idea and whether it’s true or not, I could neither prove it nor disprove it.

But I did find an alternative to the scissor mechanisms which is better.  It’s simpler and reacts quickly to an alterations to its horizontal angle.  Also it doesn’t lock up at each end of its travel.  I’m not ready to share yet, I have minor improvements to make, but as always, confidence is high!  I wish!

 I think that Bessler was offering advice on using scissor mechs but knowing that their action was desirable but not perfect, so look for an alternative that was better.

I’m still working on my personal conviction that Bessler’s wheel had five mechanisms - or five or nine.  I know this idea is universally dismissed among us, but I have my reasons for continuing down this path.

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A recent comment pointing to a no longer live blog which mentioned me and my books, was a pleasant surprise and it prompted me to take a look at my stats.  I copied and posted them below.  It’s reassuring that so many people are interested in this subject.

I admit that after 17 years those numbers, accumulated since February 2009, should probably be much higher.  But I’m still pleased that each month’s figures are good.

Comments 32929.    

Visitors

All time. 3655524

Today  310           Yesterday 1085           This month 17332           Last month 98659

From the following countries 

Singapore

1.38k

United States

1.11k

Netherlands

435

France

408

Iraq

366

Brazil

296

Saudi Arabia

259

Tunisia

250

Canada

238

Ukraine

238

United Kingdom

219

Bangladesh

214

Poland

207

Pakistan

187

Germany

165

India

151

Hong Kong

148

Vietnam

147

Russia

139

Other

2.68k

JC



Bessler’s Obfuscation to Hide Meanings

Obfuscation - the act of making something unclear, dark, or difficult to understand, usually intentionally!

Since my last offering, which failed to impress, I have been reconsidering the use of the scissor mechanisms or storks-bills.  One comment suggested that my scissor mechanisms were too large, or cumbersome.  This comment echoed my own thoughts and my initial reaction was to try to design a linkage which achieved the same action in a simpler way with less friction and an altogether lighter construction and a quicker reaction to changes in attitude.

I kind of succeeded but I’m still testing various ways to find which is best. Before I explain more; I reconsidered Bessler’s writing about scissor mechanisms and realised that he doesn’t actually say, “use them,” he merely points out that they are useful especially as they work sideways or horizontally in either direction.  My reading of this is that something with a similar action, but not scissors, might be the answer.  It must be simple and able to move freely in either direction, actioned by gravity

I said I kind of succeeded because a new thought was sparked by a curiously contradictory passage I came across, while looking up the exact wording of one of Bessler’s well known passages..  I’ll post the passage in a moment, but at first sight it seems to be recommending opposing views.

In his Apologia Poetica, Bessler wrote, “ So then, a work of this kind of craftsmanship has, as its basis of motion, many separate pieces of lead. These come in pairs, such that, as one of them takes up an outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changing places all the time. At present, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who wants can go on about the wonderful doings of these weights, alternately gravitating to the centre and climbing back up again”.

Further on he wrote, “ Many would-be Mobile-makers think that if they can arrange for some of the weights to be a little more distant from the centre than the others, then the thing will surely revolve. A few years ago I learned all about this the hard way. And then the truth of the old proverb came home to me that one has to learn through bitter experience.”

So what ever ingenious configuration we propose, it won’t work if it falls into the old trap described by Bessler above.  But we all know that and yet the same fault keeps reappearing, and yes I’m also guilty!

So the point I’m making is that in the first quote above he described the weights as working in pairs, so they are linked in some way. He wrote,  “…….as one of them takes up an outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changing places all the time.”  But in the second quote, he seems to be saying that such an arrangement won’t work. “…they can arrange for some of the weights to be a little more distant from the centre than the others, then the thing will surely revolve. A few years ago I learned all about this the hard way. And then the truth of the old proverb came home to me that one has to learn through bitter experience.” 

An ambiguous text, seemingly offering opposing opinions, and difficult to extract the truth.  

Another curious feature of the quotation describes “ ... the wonderful doings of these weights, alternately gravitating to the centre and climbing back up again”.  “Falling to the centre and then climbing back up!”  Is that an instruction to place the weights above the horizontal centre line and allow the weights to fall towards the centre? And then arrange their lift  to ….where? 

I copied the original German into google and got this! “ At this time, everyone can still guess what wondrous deeds this one’s heavy journey to the center and that one’s high journey. I may not speak of the devil here, nor open all the windows.” This one and that one, referring to the two weights which work together.

So one weight moves to the centre while its twin move upwards or high - more or less what Bessler and my translate wrote. No sign of the word “gravitating”, because, I assume, it meant the same thing, but gravity wasn’t a term familiar to most people then. Sir Isaac Newton published “Principia” in 1687, Voltaire famously remarked that in the Principia, Newton "walked where others could only crawl" many years later. As a chief champion of the Scientific Revolution in France, he viewed the text as a pinnacle of human reason, though he candidly admitted that its intense mathematical complexity meant "very few" in Europe could truly understand it.

JC

Explanations and Acknowledgement.

I’ve received a fair amount of criticism for what seems to be perceived as my unwillingness to let go of some of my personal convictions about Bessler’s wheel.  But my intention in beginning this blog was to inform and discuss certain facts which I believed were easy to establish about Bessler’s wheel.

Many people believe that Bessler intended to supply a range of clues which it is thought would eventually lead to the discovery of the secret of replicating his machine.  I am one of those people and I have presented that evidence both in my biography of Bessler, and in several web sites (I’ve had to let some go as it has become too expensive to maintain so many) and here in this blog.

I have promoted the books I published for two reasons, one to spread as much information about Bessler as possible, and secondly to try to recover some of the costs I’ve born since I first self-published my first book.  Including the translation costs for four books, and maintaining several web sites, a rough estimate of costs since I began is about £25,000 and I’ve probably recovered a lot less than half that.

I undertook this journey for the simple reason that I found evidence that Bessler told the truth, and if his machine was genuine, it was worth pursuing to try to present as much evidence as I possibly could manage to finally build a Proof of Principle device which could revolutionise the way we generate energy. 

When I began this journey, oil wells were believed to be running dry, earth was suffering from the effects of greenhouse emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, leading to global warming. I thought, here is a potential solution to those two problems; nothing has changed.  Yes we have electric cars and many other inventions, but these still don’t solve the main problem of using nuclear power to generate electricity, when the construction costs, long development time, catastrophic accidents, and the unresolved challenge of long-term of radioactive waste storage.

The alternative solutions on offer, such as solar panels, windmills, tidal energy are too expensive, unsightly and unpopular.  Bessler’s wheel offers, cheap, clean energy, anywhere on the planet in any climate conditions. 

So in conclusion, the many clues I’ve found and solved are definitely real. They can be verified as a fact.  Dismissing my clues and descriptions mean that you are cherry picking the clues and avoiding the chance of a solution.

I’m not seeking riches, but acknowledgement of my part in this story would be gratefully received

JC

Bessler’s Favourite Number

This is just an idea that has been hanging around in the back of my mind, for ever, it seems.  Everyone is well aware of Bessler’s apparent obsession with the number 5 (and mine!).  There are numerous pointers indicating to its importance in Bessler’s mind.  I won’t repeat the many indicators but….what if it has nothing to do with the number of mechanisms inside the wheel?

Recent comments on this blog brought to my mind this question and a possible connection with the frequency of the number five.  The Fibonacci numbers are well known and their relationship to the golden ratio.

We know that Bessler was familiar with the golden ratio and the Fibonacci numbers because he demonstrates it with MT137.  See my blogs dated 25th October last year and 7th September 2024.

And https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-brief-reminder-about-besslers.html

https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/2024/09/johann-besslers-aka-orffyreus-maschinen.html

He knew the maths, 360/1.618 = 222.5 or  360-222.5=137.5 Curiously 1/137.5 = 00727272727 etc. and 5x72=360, the basic numbers of the pentagram again. 

He needed to fill the gap between MT136 and the first number in the Toys page, 138.  He did this with MT137, which seems to be an of odd inclusion considering the MT was a collection of machinery drawings.  MT137 has no  apparent mechanical properties usable in a Bessler wheel. It does, however show it’s connection with the golden ratio. 

He demonstrated his requirement to achieve certain totals by using a collection of related numbers to get the final total to some significant number.  He used this technique in all the drawings in GB and DT.  

So the Toys page had the four numbers pencilled on the bottom left corner of the page, 138,139,140 and 141.  

There are 141 bible references in Chapter 55 of his Apologia Poetica, and 55 four line stanzas. We know that this number 55 is constantly shown  as well as 5.  In the Fibonacci serine’s of numbers 5 and 55 are present,  why would he push the importance of a those two numbers?  Perhaps he was actually pushing the golden ratio.

141 has only two factors, 3 and 47.  MT47 has three number 47s.  Euclid’s instruction 47 shows how to construct a pentagram. He also describes construction of a  line representing the golden ration, although he doesn’t give it that name.

The Toys page numbers total 558. The 55 seems a popular number for Bessler, but what of the 8?  Well the three numbers in 558 total 18 and that is the basic number in the pentagram, all the angles are multiples of 18. 

The number connected with then Golden ratio is 1.618, but 0.618 is its conjugate and is close to SoS’s Bessler’s favourite number 0.777…

I wondered if the actual measurement ratio which was thought to be 0.777 might actually be 0.618?

I don’t know because I never knew how SoS found the 0.777.  However given Bessler apparent obsession with the number 5 and 55, and the pentagon, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to connect the golden ratio with SoS’s favourite Bessler number 0.777.

JC

Update

I’m still working on some changes to the current design, AKA ‘the work-around wheel’.  It is open to a number of variables and I hope it will prove to be a simpler version of my last one.  The problem with interpreting Bessler’s clues correctly is the strong possibility that there are several options to consider some of which seem more suitable to producing the desired actions commensurate with the Bessler-Collins Gravity Enabled Continuous Rotation Hypothesis, and some less so.

This is not the so-called “bright shiny object”  mentioned occasionally, it’s just part of a lifetime’s work in trying to replicate Bessler’s wheel. New versions are an ongoing process, each is a serious attempt to solve this puzzle and studying the actions of the mechanisms to see if there can be an alternative that could be an improvement is also a necessary feature of most research.  If I post something along the lines of, “I know how it worked!”  I’m sorry if I give the impression that I’ve proved something;   because I haven’t, I’ve just got over excited at my latest model. I’m very sorry to mislead anyone, but I’m an excitable guy.  

The problem is this tends to lead to people asking me to share it, but when I have shared something too speculative, it leads to general disappointment. 

Each version is tried out on a previous wheel structure which leads to numerous holes and alterations to the various parts of the mechanisms visible on the test model.  I’m sure this is a common feature of Bessler wheel research.  The final PoP wheel won’t be a thing of beauty, nor a “ bright shiny object”, but as proof of the legitimacy of Bessler’s wheel, it will outshine more than 300 years of oblivity.

JC

Bessler’s Wheel - Two Solutions?

Recently I suggested that Johann Bessler might have invented two solutions to his perpetual motion machine. I considered this possibility because of the history of the Landgrave’s offer of patronage to help Bessler try to sell his machine.  Bessler had been invited to show his machine to Karl the Landgrave of Hesse, but the distance now, between Draschwitz and Kassel is over 130 miles now and journeys could take weeks for distances covered in hours today. Travellers relied on personal carriages, walking, or local wagons.  Stagecoaches had begun to connect a few major towns, although service was infrequent and slow due to poor road conditions.

There is no mention of a carriage being sent to fetch him, and there would be no chance of Bessler showing the Landgrave his latest machine in his own home.  It must, therefore, have been a small model of his perpetual motion machine, small enough to fit in a case on the stage coach or on horseback.  Or possibly, the model he showed Karl could have been a disassembled version but whatever the truth, it had to be portable and still convincing enough for Karl to give it his seal of approval.

If Karl formed his initial opinion of Bessler’s wheel, from his examination of a small version of the PM machine, then its apparent simplicity might have been misleading.  I always wondered if the inventor, having found the solution, subsequently improved it to make it more powerful. He did improve the design of the Merseburg wheel making it able to rotate in either direction and I expect that each version incorporated improvements

Karl was reported as expressing surprise that no one had discovered the solution before and Bessler himself, commented that when the secret is revealed, he is afraid that people will complain that the idea is so simple it is not worth the asking price.

This leads me to the conclusion that I, at least, am probably overthinking the problem.  I’m trying too hard to use every clue he left us.  Maybe they refer to his larger more complex models? All we really need is working model achieved with a simple concept, possibly eliminating scissor mechanisms, ropes and pulleys.  Some may now suspect I’m underthinking the problem!

So I do have an idea that might work, but I’ll share it once I’ve tested it.  

JC