Johann Bessler's timing was unforunate; Thomas Newcomen installed the first working steam engine at a coalmine in Staffordshire, England, in 1712, the exact same year that Bessler produced his first working gravity-enabled wheel. When Newcomen died seventeen years later, over 100 Newcomen engines had been built throughout England and Europe. Bessler had sold none.
Newcomen's engines were proven; loud, dirty, inefficient but reliable, and using coal in a coalmine made fuelling them easy, even if consumption was high. Bessler's wheel was an unknowm quantity; even though Newcomen kept the details of his machines secret everyone could see what they were capable of. Bessler also kept the details of his machines secret, but their power appeared to be extremely limited, in comparison.
In addition he promoted a principle which even then, was loudly rejected by the scientific community whereas steam power had already undergone a series of proven inventions by Denis Papin, who published a study on steam power, including a number of new ideas. So Bessler's invention was ignored for the same reason it has been ignored ever since; it's premise that it acquired its energy from gravity was proscribed.
But ..... if Bessler had been born today and posted a youtube video of his machine working, with all the parts visible in detail - surely he would have been in the same position as we find ourselves in today, if we were able to replicate his wheel? It seems curious that he made the discovery back in 1712 when Thomas Newcomen was about to ignite the Victorian industrial age. Bessler's wheel was far more suited to today's world, than the early 18th century, in my opinion.
It's almost as if he was out of time with his invention; 300 years premature! Even if the scientific community of Bessler's time had accepted his claims to have used gravity to drive his wheel, the competition from Newcomen would have killed his invention stone dead.
Despite various claims that Bessler's wheel is too limited in its ability generate usable energy, I do not accept this view. To me it seems obvious that his wheel can be scaled up to provide sufficient energy for many modern uses. We have discussed this before on this blog, so I'm not necessarily inviting discussion on this point, but I wanted to reiterate the importance of not dismissing Bessler's wheel as a useful and practical invention at the start of the 21st century - and that it's time is now.
JC
