I've suggested that Johann Bessler was obsessed with the number 5 because so many times it is revealed in his written works, in simple ciphers. The clues leading to these ciphers are obvious and undeniable and it seems obvious that he was trying to convey some information to us but exactly what has remained a matter for conjecture with no hard established proof to support any kind of conclusion.
It has also been observed that I sometimes seem equally obsessed with the number 5, but the word obsession simply describes 'a persistent preoccupation, idea, or feeling'.
Nothing wrong with that and I freely admit to it. The key is to not
let it rule your life to the exclusion of all else. If Bessler felt is was important for us to understand the importance of the number 5 then surely it is worth pursuing every avenue to discover what he was trying to say.
I had for many years become convinced that it referred to the number of mechanisms in the machine and tried to make wheels which had five of my mechanisms inside but none have worked - and there seemed little point in continuing that course if I only needed, say one or two or three just to prove my concept was valid. Recently my designs have led me to conclude that having five mechanism is just too complex a configuration and considering the 4 inch depth of the first wheel I scrapped the idea of five and settled down to just trying to make one crossing 'barely turn the wheel' as Bessler put it.
Recent discoveries have led me to think that the five does indeed refer to the pentagram but not in an obvious way and you won't find it depicted in the successful configuration. It's presence might even be invisible to the eye unless you know what you are looking for, and I think its presence is coincidental and not calculable in advance, however I think that knowledge of the pentagram will help to configure the mechanism.
These thoughts are really nothing more than speculation and not provable at this point although I hope to do so eventually. The reasons for my belief in this is that the pentagonal numbers show up in unexpected ways, and sometimes adding two apparently disparate numbers results in a pentagonal number, and you find part of a pentagon in the configuration.
In fact the idea that there had to be five mechanisms has been rejected by most of us and I must admit that the idea that this was what Bessler was trying to put across seems way to simple a concept to spend so much time and effort in suggesting by cunning turns of phrase and alphanumeric clues.
To demonstrate how easy it is to be sidetracked by incorrect assumptions, here's a little game I played last night to help me sleep. OBSESSED?
O = Orffyreus
B= Bessler ; or OB= Over balanced
S = 18th letter of Bessler's 24 letter alphabet. 18 is the smallest angle used in the pentagram and the one for which every other is a multiple.
E = Could be his two initials for Ernst Elias, and the fifth letter - twice.
SS = Looks a bit like 55, as used for the 55 verses in chapter 55 of his Apologia Poetica - and of course it's the 18th letter and twice 18 is 36 another pentagonal number
E = 5th letter and the number 5 was Bessler's obsession.
D = Latin numeral for 500, includes 5 and two O's to represent Bessler's wheel as he did, although his had a point in the middle to make a circumpunct.
I suspect that most of us are mildly obsessed with solving this puzzle and we won't give up.
You can play this game with any words and make 2 plus 2 = 5!
JC
10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’.
A blog about Johann Bessler and the Orffyreus Code and my efforts to decipher it. I'll comment on things connected with it and anything I think might be of interest to anyone else.
The ‘Bessler’s Books’ button at the top of the right side panel, will take you to a page giving access to all Bessler’s books. Simply click ‘home’ to come back to my blog.
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There are a number of images taken from Johann Bessler’s books which appear to support my previous post on Bessler’s Wheel Revealed. I shal...
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Finally I’m going to share what I know, and what I think I know, about the solution to Bessler’s wheel. This will be a bit shorter than my ...
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I’m 79 today and I’ve been studying the legend of Bessler’s wheel for about 65 years! Well, about 35 years of serious research. Not quite t...
some rambling thoughts: 5 and 55, 5 is a prime number and prime number ciphers are very old(maybe 2000yrs plus?), 5 is distinct in that no other prime ends in 5 , didnt bessler say something like the secrets in nature/all around? (or similar) well primes relate to fractals (snowflakes, growth branching etc.) and allthough fractals are 'new' the prime/natural shapes derived link was known.
ReplyDelete55 hmmm 55 is one of only four major 'letter numbers' in a Polybius square cipher that keys it, also very old.
I also recall seeing somewere a cipher that had repeated slashes / or 'x' 's and looked like gibberish but cant find it again(yet).
And... the secret when cracked possibly doesnt relate to a working wheel weight/lever/cord etc. setup or layout overall within a wheel, as Bessler said himself lots of wheels could work with little modification other than applying his principal ie adding his prime mover (so it relates to how the arrangement of the initial stationary out of balance is acheived/maintained), prime mover ... . there's that prime word again.
Regards
Jon
Yes I am obsessed lol.
ReplyDeleteI think you are a bit "off" when you say that D=500 Because here you prove that D=4 http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/the_logo.html
I think you can not choose what values to use, if you want to solve the code. I have chosen to divide the codes into "public codes", and "secret codes". In the public code he uses D=500, in the secret code D=4.
And when you study the codes closer you will notice that 54 also is up there among the important numbers.
You have used MT55 as an example (The first drawing without comments), but I say that 54 is the last page WITH comments so it also must be of almost the same importance. There are many proofs of this. I think Bessler placed the general and known Roman Numeral Code there, and made it so easy to detect, to take focus away from the real code. (a trap, if you like). Again I wish you good luck!
2 + 2 = 5 only for very large values of 2.
ReplyDeleteJohnnyD
Thanks John!
DeleteJC
John,
ReplyDeleteI know that they have only been scribblings on paper, but some of my ideas using five mechanisms incorporate the spokes of the wheel, and use very little weight movement.
So five mechanisms may be possible.
Oystein,
I thionk I read somewhere that colloidial silver can turn some peoples skin grey !
Be careful.
Glad you're feeling better now, I used to suffer terribly with arthritis, until I stopped taking the Ibuprofen !
They used to give me hives, facial swellings etc.
In St. Lucia we get mostly U.S. television programmes, the side effects of some of the medicines they advertise are worse than the ailment you're suffering from. :-)
Skin turning grey to blue/grey is a condition known as Argyria and is caused by silver dust or silver salts from improperly manufactured colloidal silver being trapped in the skin. Stick with a major manufacturer like Sovereign Silver, Silver Wings, or Silver Biotics and you won't regret it. Of course you can continue listening to the uninformed public and stay under that rock or you can take responsibility for your own health. Do your own research. It's funny how you hear the same old tired arguments about CS that you do with PM.
DeleteHere's some more musings for a slow Sunday,
ReplyDeleteclosing the loop on a two stage oscillator.
What's that got to do with Bessler ?
Pantographs, lazy tongs, Bessler on a swing, and parametric oscillation!
Draw your usual pantograph, but make the right hand vertical longer at the bottom, and fix the pendulum the weight to it.
Draw the left side of the top horizontal longer, and fix another pendulum to it, this time with a longer arm so that it has a longer swing arc.
Between the longer left hand pendulums arm, and the left hand side of the lower horizontal fix a lazy tong diamond.
The diamond is so that the longer swing will pull the short arm, but not vice-versa.
The pivot is on the top horizontal.
Experimenting with weights, distances etc. we may get lucky !
My next project.
John,
ReplyDeleteBessler invents his Perpetuum Mobile, which he claimed could produce as much power as he wanted.
Why would he want to build a windmill ?
Stevo, his claims about PM were ridiculed without proof and by 1745 he was desperate to earn some money and he had spent some years offering designs for many different projects to a number of public bodies as well as various rulers. He got the job of building a windmill but one to his personal design.It was just a job but he wanted to put his personal stamp on it
ReplyDeleteJC
Yeah !
DeleteI know what it's like to need to earn some money :-D
John, you have said I am delude with my efforts to solve the wheel with my optimistic hands-on approach.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token, I could also say that you are also deluded by trying to solve the wheel using Bessler's codes.
I guess time will tell, won't it.?
John & all,
ReplyDeletequick update, just been playing around with my two stage oscillator idea, this is what I found.
The activating pendulum has to swing nearly horizontally before it has any effect on the beam.
The movement of the beam is not enough to cause the secondary pendulum to swing with a wide arc.
So no luck there.
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ReplyDeleteMichel,
Deletea little while back I was staring at a picture of the Apologia Wheel, thinking it might be one of those persistence of vision things.
Suddenly my point of focus changed ( went cross-eyed ! ) and the wheel divided in two, but on the right hand wheel one of the white sections was obscured, leaving five white sections.
Curiouser and curiouser.
I'll have everyone cross-eyed now !
:-D
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi Michel,
Deletemy original idea was quite simple, take the dark sections as triangular weights, and place a pivot at each of the points nearest the hub.
This way the left and right weights would swing together and close one gap (white section).
The top weight would flop left or right, depending on the direction of rotation, this would close the second gap.
Leaving the wheel looking like a pie with a slice missing.
On a wheel, this would make the now empty section turn to the top.
Sandwich three wheels together, slightly out of phase, and all three empty sections turning to the top would be too far for the next dark section, and it would topple, starting the cycle again.
I've just been doing some drawings, and three wheels in a sandwich do not move far enough.
I'll use colours as you suggested, so it doesn't get confusing, and see what happens with five slices to the club sandwich :-D
Now I've got myself confused and cross-eyed in Technicolor !
DeleteI think I'll make a model out of stiff card, once I have one section, I can use it as a template.
Shouldn't take long.
The only picture of the Apologia Wheel I have is in John's book, so the angles are not very clear.
I was thinking 360 div. by 5 = 72, 72 div. by 3 = 24 deg., for the white sections.
360 - 72 = 288, 288 div by 3 = 96 deg. for the dark.
Let's see how we go.
Yes, 3 is obviously a part of the code as well.
ReplyDeleteJohn & all,
ReplyDeleteYes, I did come up with an idea for the Apologia Wheel.
Maybe time for another look !
That thing also, ( from which I myself fed ) Through intestines and marrow and leg driven .
DeleteThe thing, too (on/by which one nourishes/feeds) through intestines/bowels and pith/core and legs drives/is driven [goes right through]
DeleteOk Chris, settle down and drink some prune juice...
Delete