Johann Bessler promoted his wheel as a solution to flooding in mines and also for pumping water for use in 'Gentlemen's pleasure gardens' and other uses in various manufacturing processes. It has been suggested that Karl might have been considering the wheel as a means of returning the water to the top of his famous water cascade. In fact it is extremely unlikely that he harboured such thoughts given his years overseeing the experiments of Denis Papin which concerned a number of steam-related inventions. He was familiar with the shortcomings of such constructions and it is doubtful that he thought Bessler's wheel was capable of pumping anything without the aid of steam or some other unrelated discovery. The unpleasant truth is that Bessler's wheel would not have been capable of providing a solution to either the mining problem nor the cascade and would have been of limited use to the other suggestions. At that time it would just have been a novelty. Today we see potential in a number of areas, particularly in the generation of electricity, which opens up its potential to an enormous degree.
In spite of the above negative aspects there were plenty of rich princes who would have paid a lot of money to have the machine to display to their visitors. Andreas Gartner's whole life involved designing and building intricate machines for the entertainment of his wealthy patrons, for which he was well-paid, so I think Bessler could have sold his machine if only he had found a way to negotiate a settlement .
By making it drive an archimedes screw Bessler hoped to demonstrate its potential as a pump, but in reality it isn't a pump so much as a water lifter, and a limited one at that. They were used in Holland to assist in draining water from land and everywhere for irrigation, but they were man or animal-powered. Nevertheless, I think he might have had a market there, where low lifts were needed.
Karl's cascade measured almost 600 feet in height and it needed about 92,000 gallons of water to flow from the Hercules monument at the top all the way down to the big lake by the castle, where a fountain pumped water over 160 feet into the air. This whole system relied on natural pressure from reservoirs at the top of the hill and underground pipes whose locks were opened manually. Once the reservoirs were empty the cascade dried up, so could only be operated occasionally once they were refilled by rainfall. One can see the potential benefit of finding a way to return the water to the top but I don't think even today there could be an easy or cheap solution, and certainly not with an archimedes screw!
Today during the summer, twice a week the cascade is allowed to run for a few minutes. That is to conserve enough water for another display of the cascade,in case of drought, and the same applied in Karl's day.
The competitor for Bessler was Newcomen's beam engine which was first run about 1714. This machine devoured coal ravenously and produced huge clouds of smoke but it did work and many mines installed them. It drew 10 gallons of water per stroke and ran at approximately twelve strokes a minute, so pumped about 120 gallons a minute, good for draining mines but obviously still inadequate for Karl's cascade. A rough calculation suggests it would take about 64 hours of continuous pumping to replenish 92000 gallons and that would only lift the water a quarter of the height needed.
Newcomen's engine could pull water up from a depth of about 140 feet, Bessler's wheel attached to an archimedes screw was limited by the length of the screw, a few feet.
Newcomen's engine could pull water up from a depth of about 140 feet, Bessler's wheel attached to an archimedes screw was limited by the length of the screw, a few feet.
So Bessler's wheel could have been little more than a novelty at the time but not so today and were he here he could rightly ask for a trifling £100,000 and more for the secret and the machine. He was born too soon, but what if he had sold the wheel? For several years it would have remained a toy-thing of the rich, but eventually someone would have taken hold of his wheel and attached it to an electrical generator and history would have been made - perhaps Michael Faraday in 1821, would have recognised the potential in Bessler's wheel and made the connection.
JC
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Ken, the link below was posted on bw.com. It is a link to a hi-res version of one of Bessler's portraits. After opening, click the picture to enlarge, then use the slider to zoom in.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.portraitindex.de/documents/obj/33206372
Hi John, Newcomen's beam engine would have been sponsored by coal mine owners and others who want to make large sums of money quickly, and was the only reason the steam engine was developed. So please tell me who would sponsor Mr Bessler ?. His machine could have been the most powerful device on the planet at the time, only to be dropped because the money men weren't clever enough to make money out of it.
ReplyDeleteMr Bessler was a very clever nobody, had he been a somebody like Newton it could have been a different story.
All the best Nick.
The coal mine owners didn't sponsor Newcomen's engine, each one was sold and contracts for building and running it kept strictly within the Newcomen family, to maintain secrecy of its construction. Newcomen was as careful as Bessler to keep as much of the machine's operation secret.
DeleteBessler's sponsor was Karl.
JC
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteI have a question: on your gravity wheel, do the weights shift really fast when it approaches the Zenith position or the vertical position at the top of your wheel?
Sorry, but if I answered your question, I'd have to kill you!!! Seriously, I can't really say anything, other than that the weights move quickly enough when they have to.
DeleteJC
I think you've let this Walter White thing go to your head. ;-)
DeleteLol!
DeleteI'm the one who knocks!
John, do you got my email?
ReplyDeleteEastlander
No sorry, I don't.
DeleteJC
Strange, seems that someone, somewhere want that things goes with different paths.
DeleteEastlander
What did Bessler mean when he said (Springs where used but not as detractors suggested)?
ReplyDeleteWhat is a "detractor"?
Detractors were Bessler's enemies, Gartner, Wagner and Borlach.
DeleteI assume he meant that springs might be used but not for winding up so as to make the wheel spin.
JC
I see, well thanks for clearing that up for me. So, do you feel hopeful or doubtful about getting your gravity wheel to work?
ReplyDeleteConfidence is high.
DeleteJC
Regarding Bessler's wheels being used to generate electricity today, if as Ken stated, Bessler's best effort could at best have produced 50W of power, how could they be seen as viable in this respect, especially given the peak-demand of electricity for the average household. I'm particularly thinking about RAR Energia's claim that those humongous gravity machines they built, could only manage to generate 30KW! If this is accurate, gravity would seem a very inefficient way of generating large amounts of electricity.
ReplyDeleteI've seen several attempts to calculate potential output from the wheel and I have dismissed them as irrelevant. We simply cannot make even a rough assessment. If we use either of the two largest wheels, we know they turned in either direction and we have no knowledge of how that fact affected output.
DeleteOf those two wheels one turned at almost twice the speed of the other. We don't know how many weights were used nor the size of them. We can assume that the wheels were made as slim as possible to impress the audience and it is safe to assume that more wheels loaded onto the same axle would multiply output serially.
So I am open-minded about the prospect of using them to generate electricity, time will tell,but don't rule the possibility out until we have a working wheel.
JC
John,
Deleteam I being too simplistic ?
A 3in. radius axle is 1/4 of a foot, so to raise 70lbs. would require a force of at least 280ft.lbs.
Seems like plenty of torque to me.
Hi Stevo, I agree. It puzzles me that so many who support Bessler's claims, still seek to play down any prospect of there being any value in the wheel, in today's world.
DeleteProbably they will look on my thoughts as showing naivety but I am of the strong belief that there will be considerable benefits to come from the wheel once we have a working model.
JC
That's somewhat reassuring. If not gravity, then maybe its cousin, centrifugal force. I was looking for a video-link on Youtube by way of example where this German (I think) had built a precision-engineered piece of kit that tries to exploit CF, which he spins up to a tremendous speed using just his hands - but couldn't find it! What I did come across was this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXx-Hzj3tc - which intrigued me. I would never have taught of trying to harness CF using a liquid. Anyway, food for thought.
Delete280 ft. lbs.? Are you serious?
Delete280ft.lbs. at the axle would mean about 47lb. weight at the rim of a 6ft. radius wheel.
Deletei don't know how you're getting those numbers but they are way off.
DeleteYou don't multiply the axle radius times the load to get the effort.
The mechanical advantage for a 12 foot wheel with a 6 inch axle is 24:1.
The long effort arm length is 72 inches; divided by the short resistance arm length 3 inches.
So a 70 lb. load at the axle would only require about 3 lbs. near the rim to raise it.
Those 70 lb loads being rapidly hoisted by the Merseberg wheel were only being lifted by the so-called "flywheel effect". As such a lift proceeded, the wheel would begin to decelerate although this might not be noticeable to witnesses and, if the load was hoisted high enough (which was not allowed to happen), the wheel would eventually have to come to a stop. The high torque required for such a hoist did not represent the maximum continuous torque that this 12 foot diameter wheel could produce. My calculations, based on the tests mentioned in the witnesses reports of testing, indicate that this wheel could only continuously lift a weight of about 12.5 to 13 lbs that was suspended from a rope that was directly wrapped around its 6 inch diameter axle.
DeleteI disagree Ken, that the wheel decelerated as the lift proceeded. It is clearly stated that the wheel slowed to 20 rpm from its unloaded state of 26 rpm, from which slower rate it maintained a uniform rate of turn. This slower rate disposes of the flywheel argument.
DeleteYou are introducing new information not suggested by any witness, indeed denied by them. Your 'calculations', though well-intended are based on your own assumptions and not supported by the known facts. Sorry Ken, but I think your position of regarding the Bessler wheel as of very limited power does not square with my own impressions and calculations.
The Kassel wheel did slow from its maximum unloaded speed of 26 rpm's to a lower rate of 20 rpm's when the Achimedean water pump's drag was suddenly attached to its axle. Obviously, as the wheel slowed down, its axle's torque increased to eventually match the opposing torque being applied to the axle by the pump. (I am firmly convinced that this increase in torque with a lessening of rotational speed was due to a lessening of the centrifugal forces acting on the wheel's weights and levers which then allowed them to move their CoM farther out, horizontally, onto the wheel's descending side so as to increase axle torque.) However, the torque of the pump did not exceed the maximum continuous torque that the wheel could produce. If it had, the wheel would have eventually stopped because, when stopped, the wheel would have its maximum torque which did not exceed the counter torque applied to its axle.
DeleteIn the case of the Merseberg wheel, the "fly wheel" effect would be most apparent when the end of a rope connected to a 60 lb load was suddenly attached to a projection on the 6 in diameter axle in an effort to hoist the load up. The counter torque of such a load would then exceed the maximum constant torque of the wheel when it was almost stationary by about a factor of five. Without the use of a pulley system, the Merseberg wheel would be unable to continuously match this counter torque and the wheel would only be able to temporarily exceed the counter torque from the load during the hoist by using up its stored rotational kinetic energy to lift the load. As that energy was used to increase the gravitational potential energy of the 60 lb load, the wheel would gradually slow to a stop. At some point, if the load was hoisted up high enough, the wheel would stop and the load would then cause the wheel to rotate in the opposite direction.
I remain confident that my assessment of Bessler's wheels is accurate. Those performing calculations of his wheels' torques and power outputs often, unfortunately, confuse the higher, though time limited, flywheel effect torques due to the dissipation of their built up angular momenta with their much lower, but continuously produced, torques. It is those much lower continuous torques which must be used in determining the true power output of his wheels. My calculations indicate that these power outputs were very low indeed. Only about 30 to 50 watts for the Merseberg wheel with its hundreds of lbs of lead weights. I believe, currently, that the total mass of the Merseberg wheel's weights and levers was about 320 lbs, but only half of that or 160 lbs was being used at any time and at a CoM located only 1/4 of an inch from the center of the axle!
Okay guys,
Deleteknowing that my mental arithmetic skills mean I'm more mental than arithmetically inclined, I decided to carry out an experiment this afternoon.
I took a 3in. diameter pipe, the largest I had, and put it across two ladder rungs.
Wrapped a rope around the pipe, and tied 30Kg. body building weights to the other end.
I then fixed a "clicking" torque wrench to the centre of the pipe, and used it to raise the weights.
The result I got was off the bottom end of the scale at 20ft.lbs.
Then I fixed my beam type torque wrench to the pipe, and got a reading of about 15 - 18 ft.lbs.
Crude I know but it gives a good idea of the power output, so even allowing for errors etc. I reckon the best output that can be expected is 30ft.lbs.
There is a quote attributed to a witness to the testing of the Merseberg wheel stating that it was only able to lift a 60 lb load when its axle's direct torque was multiplied by at least a factor of 5 through the use of some sort of pulley system. When that was done, the lifting was very slow. Thus, the wheel's 3 inch radius axle would only have been able to lift a maximum weight of about 12.5 lbs when the weight's rope was directly wrapped around the axle and a torque multiplying pulley system was not used. That means the maximum direct torque of the Merseberg wheel's axle was 12.5 lbs x 0.25 feet which equals 3.125 ft- lbs. Your pipe was only 1.5 inches in radius with a weight of 66 lbs directly suspended from it. That weight would have produced a torque of 66 lbs x 0.125 ft = 8.25 ft - lbs acting on the pipe. Thus, your weight was applying a torque to the pipe that was 8.25 ft - lbs / 3.125 ft - lbs or 2.64 times what the maximum direct axle torque of the Merseberg wheel was. I stated above that I estimated that the Merseberg wheel's pm mechanics placed about 160 lbs of lead and lever material at a vertical distance of 0.25 inches from the center of the axle. Thus, the torque, using my CoM estimates, would be 160 lbs x 0.0208333 ft = 3.333 ft-lbs which is close to the approximate value of 3.125 ft-lbs given above.
DeleteCan't be bothered to sign in !
DeleteSo, I'm correct then, because to lift the weight requires 15 - 18ft.lbs. 3.125 x 5 = 15.625ft.lbs.
( x 5 because of 5:1 pulley ratio )
STEVO
You only needed to apply a little more than 8.25 ft - lbs to your pipe to lift the 66 lb weight whose rope you wrapped around the pipe. That's only about half of the value of the 15 to 18 ft-lbs you said your beam torque wrench needed to apply to the pipe to make it begin lifting the 66 lbs. Either your torque wrench readings are inaccurate (implying the wrench needs to be re-calibrated) or there is a problem with the way you are using the wrench to rotate the pipe.
DeleteProfessor Wolff commented on the 60 pound lift, saying, " At the moment it can lift a weight of sixty
Deletepounds, but to achieve this the pulley had to be reduced more than four times, making the lifting quite slow." Not, as you say, "at least a factor of five"' Ken. But as I pointed out a long time ago, the lift would have been over too quickly without the pulleys reducing the speed for the witnesses.
With a simple lift and no pulley intervention the lift would have taken about 30 seconds, and Bessler was a showman and put on a show.
JC
"Reducing" a pulley system by "more than four times" means that the lifting power of a source of torque is increased by at least a factor of five times by the pulley system. Assuming that the pulley system (some sort of overhead hoist or block and tackle arrangement) was "reduced more than four times" is equivalent to saying that the lifting force of the axle of Bessler's wheel was increased by a factor of 5 times but only so long as the rope between the axle and weight passed through the multiple pulleys of the pulley system. This means that the axle could only continuously lift a weight of 60 lbs / 5 or 12.5 lbs whose lifting rope was directly wrapped around the axle and did not pass through an external pulley system. Again, John, I think you like others are confusing the flywheel effect of Bessler's wheels which allowed for a rapid, but time limited, lifting of a heavy load such as a 60 or 70 lb weight with the other tests that were made by examiners to determine the lesser, but continuous, lifting of weights. Those tests were the ones that counted in determining the true potential of Bessler's wheels to do continuous or "perpetual" work. Assuming that the axle, its bearings, the vertical axle supports, and the rope could withstand the strain, one probably could have attached a one ton load directly to the axle of one of Bessler's wheels and that load would have been raised. But, it probably would not have risen more than a few feet before the wheel came to a stop and immediately began retrograde motion. The smaller the attached load, the more impressive the flywheel effect becomes.
DeleteI guess we shall just have wait and see what power the wheel will prove have, Ken? :-)
DeleteJC
True. The reality of this situation is that we still do not have all of the details of Bessler's wheels' construction and performance so making 100% reliable predictions about them currently is not possible. First, let's get something that runs and which can be built and verified by multiple independent builders. Second, work out the mathematics of how the weighted levers are shifting with respect to each other in order to keep the CoM of the wheel's weights and levers on the descending side. Finally, see if it's possible to move the CoM as far out horizontally onto the descending side as possible. Right now, I don't see how that would be possible in the design I work with. Others, however, may see a way to do this. Imagine if it was possible to move the CoM with a mass of 160 lbs, say, one foot or more onto the wheel's descending side. If that could be done, then one's wheel would immediately be outputting a kilowatt or more! We must remain cautiously optimistic about Bessler wheels.
Deleteomelette
ReplyDeletehttp://besslerwheel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=60547&sid=b7494ffa4877a673b6a78cfe8ded6037#60547
?
This is a good topic, as usual.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it will be found that, as the rate of rotation increases (accelerates), the torque does as well?
Perhaps also it will be found, when knowledge-sure of the Pimus Motus is finally secured, that it is possible then, to connect it's output directly to the wheel using earth as inertial reverence, and to thereby do away with all the imbalancing-originating phase mis-matching difficulties.
(It takes TIME for a thing to "lightly fly-up" for any catching, this done all-the-while rotating and ergo: phasing going all to hell excepting for that one calculated 'sweet spot'?
Just wundrin'.
And, I wonder where K.B. might be at?
Let me SEEEE if I might raise him . . .
"Attack of the Saucer Men"
- James
I feel like a genii who just came out of lamp that had been rubbed! Lol! You used the alternative title, but that '57 film is formally known as "Invasion of the Saucer Men". A very interesting, teens in love running around at night type of sci-fi flick and perfect for viewing at a drive in. If you think about the plot, it's really an updated version of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream". Well, I took a week off from the internet and last Wednesday night I suffered a very severe pulled muscle in my back that put me in a local ER. Fortunately, it doesn't require surgery and will eventually heal, but meantime I'm hobbling around with a cane and popping anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant meds like their jujubes. The doctor asked me to describe the pain on a scale of 0 to 10. I said that every time the muscle when into spasm (which would happen every time I moved the wrong way) it felt like a 73! Anyway, I'm hoping to be fully operational again by the end of this week.
DeleteUpdate. This morning I tested my model # 1260. It is my most advanced model and, I believe, is "the" mechanism that Bessler used. I gave it my standard CoM stability test and...failure! Shortly after startup, the CoM again flew right over to the wheel's ascending side instead of staying on the descending side. I was, of course, stunned by the results since I am sure that the levers are perfect and all of the various ropes are attached to the exact places they are supposed to be attached to according to a variety of DT portrait clues. So, what went wrong? About an hour after the test, a possible reason for the failure occurred to me. I think the problem is that I use a motor to force my model wheels to rotate at exactly 1 rpm through a 45 degree segment of rotation after which the sim is looped to repeat the motion. Perhaps, the problem is that this method is actually forcing the model wheel to "over speed" and that is what is causing the CoM tests to fail. Bessler warned against forcing his wheels to accelerate faster than they would naturally. Apparently, when this is done, a one-directional wheel's CoM immediately rotated around the axle and over to the ascending side. This may be exactly what I am seeing in my tests. So, I may at this moment actually have "it", but can not yet verify it due to a problem introduced into the testing by the method I am using to test. From now on, I will be eliminating the use of assisting motors and just see what happens when the models are allowed to naturally accelerate from a dead stop.
Bessler cat tripped on his way to the corner of the pitch dark room from which he was detecting the strong scent of the tasty pm mouse. He sprained his hind leg and, at the moment, can only limp along at a fraction of his normal speed. The mouse is delighted and has used this opportunity to move to another location in the room. Let him enjoy his brief reprieve. Soon Bessler cat will be stalking him again...hopefully, for the last time!
Mercury jujubes!
DeletePerish the thought! Mercury is actually more toxic than lead and most Americans have no idea of how toxic that seafood they are dining on really is. I developed mercury poisoning after consuming 3.5 cans of Albacore tuna per week which worked out to 21 ounces per week over a period of several months. Based on my body weight at the time, I was ingesting over 400% of the amount per week that the EPA considers "safe". Oh, yes, I learned all about mercury poisoning the "hard" way and was sickened by it for almost 16 months. Anybody else who is a "seafood lover" might want to visit the site I provided a link for below and use their handy mercury toxicity calculator to see how much of this heavy metal he is taking into his body each week. Once one exceeds 100%, he is considered to be "mercury intoxicated" and he can begin to experience symptoms. These can be somewhat subtle at first as one begins to exceed the 100% of the "safe" level per week since mercury poisoning is also known as the "great impersonator" because the symptoms of mercury poisoning can mimic those seen in various other ailments. Worst of all, most "doctors" do not even consider this possibility when they "diagnose" and "treat" their patients and then can't figure out why they never seem to recover and often even worsen over time! This site's calculator will allow one to quickly determine his risk. Believe me when I say that heavy metal poisoning, especially severe poisoning, is something one does not ever want to suffer from!
Deletehttp://seaturtles.org/programs/mercury/
Update. The assisting motors are now out of my model wheels and, just to make sure that my use of motor driven and overly light drums and axles (purposely made light so as to just let wm2d show me the location of the CoM of a model wheel's weights and levers) will not introduce any "over speeding" into my future models, I've greatly increased the mass of the 3 ft diameter model's drum and axle. I currently estimate that the 12 foot diameter Merseberg wheel's drum, axle, and pivots had a mass of 160 lbs. I also currently estimate that each of the two sets of 8 weighted levers and their suspension springs, ropes, and attachment pieces also had a mass of 160 lbs. Thus, the total mass of the Merseberg wheel was 480 lbs. If one converted this two directional wheel to a Draschwitz type one directional wheel by removing 8 of its weighted levers and their various ropes and springs, then its mass would have been reduced to 320 lbs. My little 3 foot model wheel is sort of like a miniature version of this. When scaling down to a model wheel that is only 1/4 the size of a larger version, one must divide all of the larger version's dimensions by 4 and then divide all of the masses of the larger version's components by 64 (all spring constants in the larger version's spring must be divided by 16). So, that means that the mass of the drum, axle, and pivots of my 3 foot model wheel is only 2.5 lbs. Likewise, the total mass of the 8 weighted levers it contains is also 2.5 lbs. Yes, I know it adds up to 5 lbs and that number will probably excite those who have that number deeply embedded in their minds from studying Bessler's works. At this point, I only consider it a coincidence. Now, it's time to begin testing this new, unassisted, properly weighted wheel and see what happens. Obviously, I want to see it smoothly accelerate from a standstill and continue to do so until it reaches its terminal rotation rate or I max out the available ram in my computer, whichever happens first. That shall occupy my research efforts for the remainder of this week as I continue to recover from that excruciatingly painful pulled muscle I experienced last week.
Bessler cat's sprained leg is feeling much better and he is again making his way toward the corner of the room where the scent of pm mouse seems to be the strongest.
"I feel like a genii who just came out of lamp that had been rubbed! Lol! You used the alternative title, but that '57 film is formally known as "Invasion of the Saucer Men". A very interesting, teens in love running around at night type of sci-fi flick and perfect for viewing at a drive in. If you think about the plot, it's really an updated version of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream". - Kenneth Behrendt
DeleteDARN! And I dared think that I might fool you with that! I should have known better, K.B. I'll be trying, though. One of these days . . .
The imagery of teens doing all that pleases me greatly, this and also as being the perfectly ready victims of would-be terrifiers of them or, slashers. How very true is the old admonition that 'youth is wasted on the young' - oh yeah! They are just sure they know enough, but have not the brains nor experience to realize that they don't.
"Well, I took a week off from the internet and last Wednesday night I suffered a very severe pulled muscle in my back that put me in a local ER. Fortunately, it doesn't require surgery and will eventually heal, but meantime I'm hobbling around with a cane and popping anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant meds like their jujubes. The doctor asked me to describe the pain on a scale of 0 to 10. I said that every time the muscle when into spasm (which would happen every time I moved the wrong way) it felt like a 73! Anyway, I'm hoping to be fully operational again by the end of this week." - Kenneth Behrendt
Of course, this is all bad news excepting for the part about the injury being NOT skeletal but rather, merely one of the musculature. The lower back needs special lifetime watching and attending or old age WILL descend like a ton-o-bricks on ya; any pinched nerves leading to muscular and organ dysfunction. (Orgasmic impotence as well as pelvic anesthesia being but two not good ones. Here, it is a "USE it or LOSE it" proposition IF these but can remain viable and operational as-advertised, being ever-poised for instant, 'quickie' style erotic action. Oh I just go on and on. You doubtlessly know about all of this already. (Really now, WHAT do you not?)
Wait a minute, K.B. "felt like a 73!" only "felt"? I thought you were that actually, like myself and J.C. nearly. Maybe you were not, after all, around to see all of that neat and cool B&W stuff when brand-new?
Well, if not, it was really a great life before everyone and everything became perfectly "equal" you know, as it is in Heaven?
Cheers!
James
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYes, there were several "teenagers in love running around in the dark sci-fi movies" from the '50's that I remember fondly. One such being 1958's "The Blob" which was Steve McQueen's first leading role in a movie. They made him an offer before filming began. He could take a single payment of $ 3000 up front or he could take lesser amount up front with a later 10% of the future earnings of the film Expecting the film, which only cost about $ 100,000 to film, to be a big flop and needing money for food and rent, he, of course, opted for the $ 3000. A year later the film had grossed about $ 4 million and eventually went on, worldwide, to gross even more over the following years! He spent the rest of his life telling everyone how he "almost" became a millionaire! Interestingly, even today, the films which have the highest gross incomes are the ones that deal with sci-fi themes and appeal to a younger audience.
DeleteNo, I was not saying I was 73 years old, but, rather, that I told my attending physician that, on a scale of 0 to 10 (her scale, not mine!), it felt like a 73. I was trying to maintain my sense of humor at the time (and I think she realized that) and apply one of the lines from a Shakespeare play, "...many a truth is said in jest."
I agree that any kind of skeletal injury can have serious, long lasting consequences so, in a sense, I was lucky. One spinal column injury can take one out of the game for months, years, and maybe even for life despite the best rehab. I try to make sure that my bones are as strong as possible and to help this I take a goodly amount of vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, and zinc every day. These nutrients help ward off osteoporosis and, so far, my tests show I have no signs of it. I think they are much preferable, not to mention cheaper than using the various bone "strengthening" drugs out there that, over the long run, can actually make one's bones even weaker and more prone to damage.
Update. This morning's Bessler research session was most frustrating. For some reason, the wm2d model I was working on would keep freezing up whenever I tried to use any of the tools above the Work Space window to modify it. Thinking the problem was that my computer's ram was cluttered up with a lot of automatically downloaded apps and other crap, I cleaned everything up and it still did not help. Then I tried deleting my last fifty failed wm2d models I had and that did not help. I think the problem is that the model I was working on has some corrupted data in it and I just need to use another one that is still good. To make sure the computer is okay, I ran a complete root scan on it and that indicated no problems. So, I'll have to continue tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI've decided to try something new with the wm2d models I'm building from now on. All my models so far have used a single disc which was just pinned to the Background of the Work Space and was then rotated by an assisting motor. Now the motor is gone and I will be testing what can be called "dead start" models; that is, I will be checking the rotational velocity of the wheel to see if it can, by itself, accelerate from a complete standstill as did Bessler's wheels. But, then I began to think about how the mass is distributed in a model wheel's disc. Bessler did not build wheels in this way. His pm wheels consisted of a disc or drum that was attached to massive central axle. So, here's my new approach. Above I stated that I estimated that the mass of the Merseberg wheel's axle and drum (minus the masses of the 16 weighted levers, ropes, and springs the drum contained) was 160 lbs. That meant that the mass of my 1/4 scale, 3 foot diameter wm2d model would only be 1/64th of that or 2.5 lbs. Now, however, I think that what Bessler did with the Merseberg wheel was make the axle (including its two steel end pivots) weight exactly 80 lbs and the empty drum he attached to it another 80 lbs. The total mass of the axle and drum was then 160 lbs. So, I will from now on be including a miniature 1.5 inch diameter axle at the center of my wm2d model wheel's disc that will weigh 1.25 lbs. This axle will just be pinned to the center of the disc while the disc itself will still be pinned to the Background as usual. The disc of the model will also be exactly 1.25 lbs. The total mass of the model's axle and disc will therefore be 2.50 lbs. I can't shake the feeling that this redistribution of axle / drum mass is, somehow, important to keeping his wheels from "over speeding" upon self-starting. Also, interestingly enough, the number 1.25 appears quite prominently in the second DT portrait! Coincidence? Maybe.
Bessler cat has a new plan for finally capturing that annoying pm mouse. It's very simple. The pitch black room containing the cat and mouse has four corners and the mouse always has the ability to move to one of the corners where Bessler cat is not located. Now Bessler cat has figured out a way to maintain a presence at all four of the room's corners at the same time! Impossible? Not really. Stay tuned for the amazing solution in the next update...
Update. Good news and bad news. I got the various "issues" plaguing my computer straightened out and my wm2d models are now working smoothly again. I then made it to model # 1263 which used the new 1.25 lb axle and 1.25 lb disc. Everything seems perfect and I ran the sim. The wheel immediately began to move and the graph of rpm / time showed it accelerating smoothly. At time equals 3 seconds the acceleration ended and it began decelerating to a dead stop after another 3 or so seconds. In other words, it "keeled" as they say on various other free energy sites. However, while disappointed, I'm not yet out of options. Assuming that all of the other parameters of my model wheel are correct (and I am confident they are), there is only a single lifter rope that I need to find the correct lever to lever attachment points for in order to remedy this situation. Over the next few days, I will experiment with variations of these attachment points to, hopefully, get the model wheel to continuously accelerate up to some terminal rotation rate which, I suspect, will be quite high like, maybe, 60 to 80 rpm's. If that can not be done, then I will have reached a major, a perhaps impassable, road block. I'm praying that it will not come to that!
ReplyDeleteHow will Bessler cat simultaneously maintain a presence in all four corners of the room he and pm mouse now occupy? Simple. He intends to us the "decoy method"! While the mouse was scurrying around, Bessler cat was busy traveling between three of the room's four corners. In each of these three corners, he voided some potent cat urine to "mark it" and thereby give the approaching pm mouse the false impression that the corner was actually occupied by Bessler cat when it really wasn't. Now the cat is quietly hiding and waiting in the room's remaining corner which he has not marked. The pm mouse will avoid all of the other corners and, eventually, head directly for the remaining corner where he will find Bessler cat's claws and teeth eagerly awaiting him! Mwahahaha...
Years ago, there was a guy named "Techstuff" who claimed he had solved the secret of Bessler's wheels. His wheel was, obviously, inspired by MT 18, and a link to a photo of it is shown below. As can be seen, he used 8 lead balls attached to the ends of springs whose other ends were fixed to the vertices of a large octagonal drum. After others tried, unsuccessfully, to duplicate his claimed success, it eventually came out that he had "overstated" the performance of his invention. Of course, this resulted in a lot "negativity" being heaped upon him. However, I've always been a bit impressed with his approach. It uses springs to store some of the lost gravitational potential energy of weights swinging in toward the axle around the 9:00 position and then tries to use that energy to help lift the weights back toward their vertices locations as they pass the wheel's 12:00 position. Although I don't think this is exactly how Bessler actually did it, I've often wondered if some modification of this design might, finally, be able to keep the CoM of the lead balls always located on the wheel's descending side (right of the axle in the photo) as the wheel continued to rotate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freeenergynews.com/Directory/GravityMotors/photos/images/gravity_motor1.jpg
Update. I'm up to model # 1266 now and still all I'm getting are keels. The good news is that as I change one of the lifter rope attachment points to the 9:00 lever, it seems to be allowing the wheel to accelerate for a little longer before keeling occurs. If I can find the correct attachment point, the acceleration should continue as the wheel rotates through 45 degrees and all of its weights and levers return to their starting orientations. If that can be done, that is, one successful 45 degree segment of wheel rotation, then it should be followed by another and another and another and so on.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I kept thinking about that Techstuff gravity wheel I posted a link to above and wondering if some way could be found to modify it so as to make it work. Incredibly, I have come up with something that uses 8 spherical weights that can slide back and forth on straight tracks that are attached to a wheel. But, I've added springs that serve to pull the ascending side weights up along their tracks and, hopefully, thereby allow the CoM of all of the 8 weights to remain continuously on the wheel's descending side. I'll have the testing on it done in a few more days. It certainly looks like it would have to work, but, as we all learn the hard way while chasing pm, looks can be very deceiving.
Bessler cat is waiting patiently in the remaining corner of the room to which the pm mouse will be driven as he seeks to avoid the cat. Now Bessler cat hears the sounds of tiny mouse feet approaching his position. His mouth is starting to drool. This could be it!
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteIs your wheel rotating yet? Aside from that question, how should someone go about presenting their gravity wheel to the public? The news media, newspaper, or word of mouth?
Hi, I've been working on this for most of my life, Perpetualman, so I'm not about to give anything away until I'm ready, so I hope you don't mind if I keep my progress to myself for now.
DeleteTo answer your second question, it depends if you want patent it, if you do then applying for a patent is your first step. As you probably know, I think patenting is waste of time and money and unnecessary. Each of those things will help. Publish a video, animation to show how it woks. Publish a website showing the wheel rotating. Write full description of how it works and how to build it.
So now all you have to do is build your first working model.
JC
Perpetualman, gravity wheels are impossible. That isn't what a Bessler wheel is. You don't have to worry about a working model or publicity.
DeleteIf Bessler did not have a genuine pm wheel, then a lot people, me included, are wasting a lot of time with our research. If you don't think he had a genuine pm wheel, then how do you think his wheels worked?
DeleteHere's a link to a youtube video I found of an admitted fake pm wheel. Interestingly, it looks very similar to the model of the modified Techstuff gravity wheel I'm currently working on in addition to my usual Bessler wheel research. Note that this wheel could actually work if some way was found to make its steel ball bearings begin sliding to the right (and rising) after they pass the 6:00 and 12:00 positions of the wheel. What I have in mind might be able to do this. Hope it works even though it isn't how Bessler did it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q6vd5kyKIpA
Update. Model # 1266 was completed and ready for testing earlier this morning. However, I decided to then take a break and do a little work on that modification of the Techstuff wheel that has been bouncing around in my mind for the last few days. I wound up making about a half dozen models that used various types of springs, ropes, slot angling, etc. and the result was...nothing but failure! None of the designs would keep its CoM on the wheel's descending side during rotation. I might be able to start with the CoM there, but the design would inevitably keel as its CoM drifted over to the ascending side and axle torque dropped to zero and then became negative. Most frustrating and I don't know whether or not I'll bother with this again. Probably not. Fortunately, through the use of wm2d I was able to compress weeks of work in the shop down to an hour or so. This dalliance with non-Bessler wheel research has, however, given me greater appreciation of how remarkable Bessler's achievement was and how it would naturally have caused people to doubt the authenticity of his inventions. Many of those people had probably invested significant portions of their lives in the vain quest to achieve pm only to experience the repeated bitter taste of failure. Then, along comes a handyman from the labor class who manages to do it. That was something that was only supposed to be done by a Leibniz or Newton if it could be done at all. The more I study Bessler's pm wheel mechanics, the more convinced I am that the "secret" ultimately reduces to finding a way to very precisely counter balanced the 9:00 to 10:30 lever during each 45 degree segment of drum rotation. Once that method is found, that lever can, as Bessler noted, be made to "rise in a flash" back toward its rim stop (but not reach it) during any 45 degree segment of drum rotation and, once that happens, a lot of other shifting will also simultaneously take place with the result that the CoM of the weights and levers will stay right where it is supposed to in a genuine imbalanced pm wheel which is on the wheel's descending side at all times. That then results in a continuous axle torque that can accelerate the wheel or, through its axle, run external machinery. I'll get to the testing of model # 1266 tomorrow.
ReplyDeletePm mouse is now scurrying straight toward the remaining corner of the pitch dark room containing he and Bessler cat. Bessler cat is ready and anticipating a long overdo snack that will definitely be the tastiest he has ever enjoyed. Stay tuned folks...
"Stay tuned folks". Hmmm. That's suspiciously similar to the "Watch this space" that John Collins once wrote on his own blog, when he used to have one.
DeleteMaybe I should just give this one to Ken, he seems to think it's his.
DeleteJC
I'm just trying to stimulate others to contribute here and not just lurk out there. I'm also trying to get people interested in mechanical pm to focus on Bessler's wheels. Oddly enough, a lot of pm chasers could care less about exactly how Bessler did it, they only want to get something, anything, that works. Well, each to his own. For me, the quest for mechanical pm begins and ends with Bessler. If his wheels can not be reverse engineered, then I would hold out little hope for any other mechanical approach working. Other than Bessler, the only pm device that has impressed me is the Yildiz permanent magnet motor I've mentioned before. In case there are any newcomers to this blog who have not seen it yet, here's a link to a demonstration the inventor gave at some engineering school in the Netherlands, I think. It's very impressive and after a round of applause from those present, he even completely dissembles the motor and passes the parts around to the observers! Very impressive and it's obvious that his machine was outputting hundreds of watts during the demonstration (its only moving part, a rotor, can spin with speeds up to 2000 rpm's!) and doing so with only a fraction of the size and mass of Bessler's largest wheels. The only drawback I see to his device is that the model shown incorporates about 1200 rare earth magnets which are expensive.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHW6b1aFPfU
Quite frankly, John, I have come to believe that K.B.'s unique contributions in various of most colorful (colourful) ways, at very least serve to flesh-out what otherwise would likely be but a thin framework of commentary, whatever the Topic might be. (Well, of course, this short of some report that a turning wheel is self-running on my desk or some similar like.)
DeleteAfter we got past that #1250 unit report, and discovery of the fact the he has been at this P-M searching business from before most of us were in diapers, seems to provide him rather good leave for doing as and what he does so well.
(This is IMPRESSIVE dedication and, when unfortunately expired and with us no longer, he should be bronzed, the result to be placed at some location of honor. (honour) Perhaps, say, next to mine and Bessler's as the foot of Karl's great fountain. (You too, John!)
Also, interesting asides such as really cool B&W 50's horror movie lore banter, seems to alleviate somewhat, all of the more severe Besslerian technical talk and work, work reports etc.
Also, also I am somewhat ashamed now for having criticized K.B. and his progress reports inordinately some time earlier. It was just that my Taurus was kicking the hell out of my Gemini side, making this Jack a very dull boy. Things are much better, now that this angst is being directed laser-like at 'that OTHER P-M "research" site', or however it goes.
That monstrosity of outrage just lumbers along with the ever-suffering, struggling lessers there playing tricks and talking 'nicie' to the Great High Ones, these for the peanut shells of pathetically needed approbation, as thrown at them (any actual peanuts they never are to get) all-the-while being frightened-stiff into silence by means of the intimidation machine that is the Greenie rating system. It is Communistic BC (Besslerian Correct) to it's rotten, manipulative core, because all done IN SECRET. Thank Goodness Herself that no such thing prevails for an Elite to take hold-of and make-merry-with here.
- James
NOTE: The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the moderator nor any contributors. They are solely ones of THIS contributor/author. (Just thought I'd add that for completeness' sake?)
Well said James,...just be patient and you will rise again.
DeleteMaybe if John would throw us some titbits now and again we would be confident that he is progressing and be encouraged.
This is what these forums and blogs are about,...inspiration!
You three are mental. John should be able to post what he wants when he wants without his blog posts getting rubbished up by off-topic, self-serving ramblings.
DeleteGo here: http://www.buildyourownblog.net
If You Can Spare 16 Minutes, You Can Start Your Own One-of-a-Kind Blog. Also, it's Dummy Proof with a Step-by-Step Guide!
No! You guys are all selfish trolls, living in the shadow of John Collins, under the bridges of his posts.
Now, Trevor will whinge because he has to know who's talking before he can digest what's said. Ken will carry on modulating himself, and James will get the hump, again.
Modulate myself?!
DeleteOh yeah!... well you come here and say that!
DeleteOnly John has the right to judge us on his blog... not you!
Once again we have an Anonymous attack problem here.
DeleteWhat you say, whoever you may be, might be of some real, actual substance and could be taken as such if only you were not appearing from a place of hiding as masked.
Identify yourself by registering then we, the "three" seemingly so-detested by yourself, will know who you are, which really we have a right-to.
How, I ask, can one defend one's self from an attacking ghost in the night, which the Anonymous Plaguers most surely are just like?
Come out into the light, little coward, then make your charges, and we'll see if they are even worthy of defensive action, or a simple dismissal of a peach-fuzz-faced little punk.
So far, it is obvious that you are a sneak and perhaps a rat and possibly, even, the Tasmanian Cockroach itself! (Past THAT piece of vermin, I'd not put anything.)
Prove us wrong.
DO it, little girl!
"Obvious truths need not be proved" - Maxim of Law, original in Latin
J.
Thank you for that, Trevor Dauncey! (James, now having been most appropriately puffed in gratitude being seen bowing this way then that, in front of his monitor.)
DeleteTrevor, honestly that is a good wish you have for me about 'rising' but, at that certain other place my goal is to GET SPLASHED by the controlling Elite gang of P-M "researchers" there. This gets me out and from under the Tyranny in Green, and finally free to live again to make more friends! So-far they are cooperating but I'm not sure my luck will hold. We'll see.
After that being accomplished, then The Big Hammer and the dual-columned "creepy" list comes into play. (This most novel description for my N&N list was supplied by the one-and-only Tasmanian itself, and I found it perfect, the List being just chock-full of creeps but with a very, very tiny handful of rarest most precious wheat. I suppose it just takes a creep to know what things to name after itself.)
CHEERS!
James
JC, if you ever get around to discussing your mechanisms and how they match up to Bessler's clues and codes, and science, you'll get your blog back. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteI guess the time is approaching for few clues to show I'm not kidding myself.
DeleteJC
Thanks for the kind words, James. I got a chuckle out of the image of having bronze statues of ourselves placed at the base of Karl's fountain. Perhaps the statue of Hercules on top (assuming it's still there) could be replaced by giant bronze statues of Bessler and Karl standing before the open drum of the Kassel wheel.
ReplyDeleteUpdate. I have finished and run the sim for model # 1266, but, without actually viewing the turning wheel or the rpm versus time graph, just saved the results for analysis tomorrow morning. I'm hoping and praying that this particular lifter rope modification of what I consider to be the "it" design will finally be able to complete 45 degrees of rotation while displaying continuous acceleration.
Now for some other very interesting news. After I chickened out on viewing the test results for model # 1266 above, I decided to try to make an exact replica of Techstuff's design using wm2d. After a half hour of trying to get the bugs out of the "flexbeam" tool in my version of the software, I gave up and decided to approximate his design by just placing 8 weights at the ends of levers near the rim of a 3 foot diameter wheel and suspending them from the rim with a single spring each. I used 0.25 lb weights at the ends of rods that were, initially, about 7.5 inches in length. When I finished, I realized that the design was virtually identical to one I mentioned in one of the articles on my website (written in October of 2003) which I had actually attempted to physically construct. That real model was a total disaster and only completed a single rotation before all of its overstretched springs were ruined. But, with the computer version I now had, I could quickly change all of the spring constants and then run a quick "dead start" simulation to see if the model could accelerate throughout a 45 degree segment of rotation. Well, the first run of this non-Bessler model wheel only produced a keel. Then, I decided to shorten the lever lengths and make another change in spring constant values. Incredibly, this time the wheel did not keel. There was an initial acceleration to about 0.5 rpm after which the velocity remained stable and then increased again. At first I could not believe my eyes. Then I immediately dismissed what was happening as most likely due to some issue with the accuracy settings of the model. I decided to zoom in to see what the CoM of the weights was doing during the test. That's when things really got interesting. The CoM of the weights stayed on the wheel's descending side throughout the simulation! This was no glitch! This design does, indeed, look like it's working but the torque is very low. Tomorrow, after I complete the testing of model # 1266, I will do some more work with this model, let me call it the "MT 18 inspired design" for the moment, to see if I can improve the descending side displacement of its CoM and thereby enhance the acceleration. The design performance seems very sensitive to the lengths of the levers used. I will continue to work with this design along side of my "usual" Bessler wheel research. After 1200+ attempts this is the first model I've seen that actually kept its CoM continuously on the wheel's descending side throughout a 45 degree segment of rotation...a true "first" for me!
Pm mouse finally reached the corner occupied by Bessler cat and ran headlong right into the cat's ready and open mouth! Bessler cat's jaw muscles are now starting to contract. He can actually feel the fur of pm mouse rubbing up against his saliva drenched tongue. Within a few more milliseconds, the cat's needle sharp fangs will begin to puncture the skin of the tasty pm mouse. This could finally be "it"...the moment Bessler cat has been hoping and praying and dreaming about for such a very, very long time. See everyone tomorrow...same cat channel, same cat time!
I found a great website for those that haven't seen it.
ReplyDeletehttp://507movements.com/
It's based on the 1896 book "Five Hundred And Seven Mechanical Movements", by Henry T. Brown. Many of the movements are now animated.
The book is also available as a .pdf online on a couple different websites. Just do a search, and you should easily find it.
Many hours of study here, for builders and simulators alike.
Ken, many of these look like they could be easily simulated in two dimensions, so you might get some ideas to try.
My best to all!
Hutch
Thanks, Hutch. A worthy collection, indeed. I'm not "into" gear work, but something like # 14 might have been used by Bessler when demonstrating the constant lifting power of his wheels. And, btw, when calculating the constant lifting power of a wheel when a block and tackle used on a load, one must always include the mass of the "tackle" or the lower section to which the load is directly attached into his calculations. Thus, if Bessler's Merseberg wheel was noted to be able to continuously lift 60 lbs, it was actually lifting 60 lbs plus the mass of the tackle which might have been 10 lbs or so.
DeleteMy pleasure, K.B. and, you're most welcomed and I always try to be an amusing and happy-go-lucky type guy, and which I am known for world-wide and I believe and . . .
DeleteNevertheless, all that notwithstanding, I plan to continue to attempt fool you with 50's B&W sci-fi titles you may not know of. One day I am sure I'll stump you THEN I shall claim my prize.
In the mean time: BEWARE dracanelia rotundus !!
-James
Maybe not 50s B&W Sci-Fi, but 60s B&W Brazilian Horror.....
DeleteAnyone here seen the Coffin Joe movies, starring José Mojica Marins?
Hi Hutch!
DeleteGee's! That's a new one on me. Never saw one but, betcha K.B. will have!
Are they all in Spanish with English subtitles? Sounds interesting. Is Brazilian Horror more bloody or subtle than ours of that period?
Hutch, are you contributing from Brazil itself?
I remember one jungle type cult film called "Curse of the Cobra Woman". That seems like it might have been from South America. (Or, do they even have cobras there? I don't know; we'll have to wait for K.B. to wake up, he'll know.)
(Perhaps John might make a special off-section for film discussions [beginning with his interview one and the Italian Bessler documentary, of course], then the main big thrust of the Topics themselves will not suffer dilution?)
- James
Thanks for the warning, James, but I'm not allergic to that species. For some reason I seem to be immune from all forms of insect venom, pollen, dust, mold, and even poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac oils! Probably due to having spent so much time being exposed to them outdoors over the last few decades.
DeleteUnfortunately, Hutch, I am not an expert on foreign horror / sci-fi films unless they were available in dubbed versions which, quite sadly, most were not. They did produce many very good quality films that most Americans have never seen. I think that the "Coffin Joe" films were sort of Brazil's answer to the Spanish werewolf movies that were produced, directed, written, and performed by Paul Naschy whose real name was Jacinto Molina Alvarez and who is fondly remembered as "the Spanish Lon Chaney" (he died in 2009, I believe). "Coffin Joe" whose real name in the films was Josefel Zanatas was apparently the alter ego of Jose Mojica Marins, a very talented Brazilian filmmaker who was also an actor, composer, screenwriter, and television and media personality. Below is a blurb I found describing the Coffin Joe character in the series of films about his various nefarious deeds:
"Coffin Joe is an evil, amoral character who considers himself superior to others and exploits them to suit his purposes. He hates morality and superstition (which he includes religion as) to the point of obsession. His central belief is that (self) imposed superstitious beliefs tend to prevent individual development, inhibit positive social change. Those who do not accept his central belief are considered to be weak, lack power, and limited in their ability to rationalize objectively. Those who share with him similar beliefs are considered to have power and intelligence above the 'normal' person.
The primary theme of the character is his single-minded obsession with the "continuity of the blood"; he wants to sire the "superior" child from the "perfect woman." His idea of a "perfect woman" is not exactly physical but someone he regards intellectually superior to the Brazilian average, and in this quest he is willing to kill anyone who crosses his path."
Coffin Joe sounds like he would have made a great Nazi!
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DeleteKen Behrendt wrote on 5 October 2015 at 15:44
ReplyDelete"Thanks for the warning, James, but I'm not allergic to that species. . . ."
I fooled you! You did not know or forgot.
You did not remember that this most vicious and efficient of ALL man-eating plants ever conceived by the twisted fecund mind of Man was the fantasy species "dracanelia rotundus".
It was featured as an all-human consuming fiend, in a B&W late Thirties/early Forties flick.
I saw it last in 1956 live hosted on L.A. market TV by Vampira herself - the inimitable, unique and wonderful - on her really great and scary to a little guy, late-night show sponsored by the Yeakel Bros. Plymouth car sales.
(For others' information, see "Ed Wood" starring Johnny Depp, for further some low-down on her and 'The Amazing Criswell' too.)
She commented that it WAS "my very favorite plant", naturally. It is amazing what an eleven-year-old mind can retain knowledge and impression-wise. Unfortunately, one of those items not so-remembered was the TITLE of the thing. Googled it but could not find it but will eventually.
I KNEW you would know about any Brazilian stuff. Very good.
Coffin Joe sounds interesting. He and I share some characteristics so it would seem but, just which these might be I'll successfully resist stating. I wonder also if he might be one against the Heterocentric Chamber of Suppressive Horrors [© 2015 James.M.Miller - all rights reserved] now being so very justly, and necessarily dissected into pieces? Well, no matter which, what is to be shall be - onward and upward.
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DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYes, you stumped me on that one, James, because there is a genus of "dracanelia" and I figured that "rotundus" was a legitimate species within the genus. Anyway, if such a plant existed I'd probably be immune to its pollen, but most likely not to its attempts to eat me alive! Lol! I remember one '30's horror movie plant which was the night blooming "mariphasia" mentioned in 1935's "Werewolf of London" starring Henry Hull (probably the earliest werewolf movie). That rare and difficult to cultivate plant was necessary to keep a werewolf's "curse" at bay and prevent his transformation during the three nights of the full moon each month. (I love stories wherein someone becomes the victim of some "curse" over which they have no or limited control and that explore how he / she deals with the problem. Usually, these tales do not end well for the victim or the victim's victims!)
DeleteOh, yes, "The Vampira Show" with cult siren Maila Nurmi. I think some of her shows can still be found on youtube. I'll have to check that out. I saw an interview with her once in which she described how she prepared for each of the weekly tv shows. Basically, she would starve herself to get her waist as thin as possible, and then consume one hot dog before the live show aired so that she would not pass out from hypoglycemia! Now that's what I call dedication to one's craft! Below is photo showing her taking the concept of the cinched waist to its ultimate and potentially dangerous limit:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b1/b7/e5/b1b7e5b21e2add9fbc81d01c9ee39ae3.jpg
John Collins: I've just come across this site. Are you genuinely serious that you know how to make a perpetual motion machine?
ReplyDeleteIf so, how do you reconcile it with the current laws of physics, in particular about not being able to create energy from nothing?
This is not setting you up for a trap - I am genuinely intrigued and interested.