After the Construction of Bessler's Wheel?

When Bessler's wheel finally materialises and the accompanying furore has died down, the world will be looking for ways to use it.  We have discussed many times the potential for energy generation and there are as many doubters as proponents of the potential for useful electricity generation.  For me it's simply a matter of scale; if you can produde a tiny amount of electricty from a small machine then a bigger one will produce more.  How much bigger the wheel would have to be remains to be seen, but as I have often said, several wheels on one axle obviously has a much larger capacity to produce multiple amounts of power than a single wheel could.

I'm interested in other possibilities for its use.  In third world dry climates there is the potential to pump water from wells, irrigation of crops, greening of deserts, air-conditioning and refrigeration units.  In cold climates I suspect a way may be found to produce low level warmth into suitably insulated buildings. But what of the actual mechanical design, might it be adaptable for other mechanisms?

I mentioned many years ago that as a device for changing linear motion into rotary motion there could be potential for using the Bessler mechanism in a similar but alternative way.  I'm thinking of an inertial thruster but not a reactionless drive.  It has to be open, not a closed system. So the mechanism is driven in reverse by, say, a small electric motor which rotates it, creating a linear force on one side of the rotating mechanism.  Such a device mounted on wheels should cause it to move in the direction of the force.  It might even offer a space drive. Who knows if it would work, but logically if Bessler's wheel worked then so should this.

Once the technique Bessler invented is known, better ways of achieving the same thing may well  be invented and his design relegated to the history books, but that is progress and highly desirable. I'm working on an idea I've had for some time which I believe could be the solution to Bessler's wheel; it's what somone called 'a workaround'.  It doesn't conflict with the usual well-known problems and if I'm right then there are probably other ways to achieve the same result.

Curiously just such a thought was posted on my previous blog, and such coincidences can make your hair stand on end (those of you who have hair!).  Is someone reading my mind? I hope not! I've wondered if there were alternative ways of making a gravity-enabled wheel for some time, because although I have tried to follow Bessler's clues in my design, fitting it in with my own thoughts, perhaps I've misunderstood the clues and I'm trying to achieve the same result as he did but in a different way, and not deciphering his clues correctly.  In the final analysis the path doesn't matter as long as the desired end is reached.

JC

Johann Bessler's Graphic Clues

Despite including several drawings illustrating his wheel (although external views only) in his publications, Grundlicher Berchicht, Apologia Poetica and Das Triuphirende, most people have seized upon his unpublished work which I have called his Maschinen Tractate (MT) (although there is no such title contained within its pages) to try to find answers to the Perpetual Motion (PM) machine. The MT contains 141 illustrations prepared for printing and some of the pages have handwritten comments attached to them.  But there is a note on the first page which warns the reader that he, Bessler, has destroyed or hidden any that show the workings of his wheel.  He does stress that careful study of the remaining drawings could lead someone with a perceptive intelligence to find the solution.

Many people have taken this to mean that a careful study of every page is necessary to find the answers, but in my opinion, Bessler would not have included serious information in all 141 drawings or even some of them, which were completed over a considerable length of time.  But also he would have had no idea that an arrest charge was imminent and therefore he would have had no time to add numerous drawings done painstakingly on wooden blocks for printing.  I'm sure his original intention was to conclude the MT with an explanation of how his wheel worked, but due to the possibility of imminent arrest he removed those particular pages and replaced them with an illustration on paper. The page which I called "the Toys" page is numbered 138, 139, 140 and 141.  This is the only page with more than one page number, therefore I think it is only necessary to study that single page.  The fact that it includes four page numbers suggests that it replaces those original four pages, the ones showing how his wheel worked.

It is true that there are hints at othe hidden information within the preceeding 137 pages and perhaps he did insert pointers to additonal information but it is my belief that these little clues pointed to the some small features within his concept, not intended to convey the complete picture.  If we assume that his MT was designed to be a tool for teaching his apprentices at his planned school then these small inclusions might have been there to raise points of discussion within his anticipated classroom.

So the 'Toys' page may well hold some important information that while not providing the full picture, might prompt us in the right direction.  One other picture, MT 137, appears to be prepared for printing might have been added as additional clue.  You can read my hypothesis about this page on my web site at www.theorffyreuscode.com :-
 http://www.theorffyreuscode.com./html/mt_137_a.html 
Check out pages '2' and '3' too for the full picture.

Note the drawings below include the original MT137 and below it,  how to construct MT 137 taken from the web site linked above, and if you have read the above link you will know that I have always worked on the assumption that there were five mechanisms.  There are several supporting clues which also point to the same number.

In the 'Toys' drawing below I have divided the drawing into five sections.  I used the figure marked 'A' to guide me and included one of five pairs of depictions; one straight vertical and one pair of verticals in each division.  In the 'Toys' drawing there are five letters, A, B, C, D  and E - note that, five letters.  An apparently hastily added sketch of  a spinning top is labelled '5', not 'F' to follow 'E'.  and he calls it '5', not '6'.  Weird?  Or is he trying to tell us something?

Splitting the drawings into five parts reveals some information.  In each division in 'A', you can see, drawn vertically, two uprights surmounted by a single one.. They bear a striking resemblance to the figures labelled 'C' and 'D', which are shown horizontally.  But why two 'C' and 'D's?  I think only one hammer is needed in 'C' plus the parallel rods.  The same in 'D' but the hammer used is rotated around the other way to point outwards or to the left.

The item marked 'E' is the storks-bill, lazy tongs, scissor jacks or whatever you prefer to call them.  Item '5' is a spinning top, just in case no one makes the connection that this is all about a rotating device.  I won't explain item 'B' as it would require too much extra explanation here, but obviously it has a connection with item 'A'. But I will show its meaning later this year, when I've checked a couple of things out first.

Lastly the text is hard to read at item '5' but has been variously translated :-

" 5. Children's game in which there is something extraordinary for anyone who knows how to apply them in a different way."

  Mike, my translator had several goes at it and came to the conclusion that his version was right, but who knows?

JC

My Favourite Bessler Clues

I often get asked which of the many clues that are associated with Bessler are the best in my opinion, and which do I think will lead us to success.

There are textual clues as well as graphic, but I tend to favour the graphic ones, although there are a couple of pieces of text which in my opinion offer the most useful information and could help in our search for success.  But a single clue taken in isolation is hard to fathom and in my opinion is best understood when considered in conjunction with others.  Bessler had no desire to lie, if only because it would reflect badly upon him at a later date, even if the wheel was sold and accepted as a success.  But he could and did write ambiguously.  Much of his text when referring to the wheels, appeared to be either contradictory or even nonsensensical, but a search for anything constructive while attempting to accept the apparent meaning in an experimental way has led me to some interesting understandings.  Here are some of my preferred clues, not in any particular order of merit for me.

For instance Bessler says, "...these weights are themselves the PM device, the 'essential constituent parts' which must of necessity continue to exercise their motive force so long as they keep away from the centre of gravity."  This tells me that whatever arrangement is responsible for continuous rotation, it has to be ultimately gravity which enables it.

-and, “Alternately gravitating to the centre and climbing back up again." this seems obvious but is ambiguous, look for an alternative meaning which fits the words.

Or these ones,  “'Lightly' cause a heavy weight to fly upwards!” 

“I don't want to go into the details here of how suddenly the ‘excess’ weight is caused to rise." 

  “The inward structure is so arranged that by disposed weights once in rotation they gain force from their own swinging."

“This pressure of two fingers was applied until the moment when a single one of the weights present inside the body of the device began to fall.”

.

The above four quotes give me a feel for the mechanical action, but no detail.  The next one does give a little detail: "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 upan outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changingplaces all the time."  Very informative, and as before, don't take the words at face value, look for alternative ways to understand what he says.

This following text is the most sensible piece of advice given out by Bessler and I think it applies to almost all designs currently being worked on; "Many would-be Mobile-makers think that if they can arrange for some of the weights to be a little more distant from the center than the others, then the thing will surely revolve. I learned all about this the hard way. One has to learn through bitter experience.”  It seems as though the design features he is dismissing are an absolute necessity for a gravity-enabled wheel to revolve continuously, but as it stands, his advice appears to rule it out utterly.  Do not be fooled, he admits elsewhere that his design relies on weights being a little more distant from the center than the others,so how do we explain this?  It's another example of his textual sleight-of-hand; it comes down to working out how you get the weights to be a little more distant from the center than the others.

There are many other clues in the text but the following one is my absolute favourite and one which is a supreme example of Bessler's deviousness, containing ambiguity, apparent nonsense and absolute truth, if you can work it out.  "A great craftsman would be that man who can "lightly" cause a heavy weight to fly upwards! Who can make a pound-weight rise as 4 ounces fall, or 4 pounds rise as 16 ounces fall".  I understand it completely with the proviso that there are two possible outcomes either of which it can argued, he meant but which hands-on building will resolve.  There are other translations available but I like this one the best and they are each decipherable in the same way.

I'll discuss the graphic clues in my next blog, but I warn you I shan't be giving much away.

JC

Johann Bessler's three possible outcomes.

Johann Bessler spent an intense and lengthy period of time searching for the solution to a perpetual motion machine.  Having suceeded in his self-appointed task he then spent an equal amount of time trying to sell the secret for 100,000 thalers.  His options for obtaining such a large sum were extremely limited; only rulers or princes of kingdoms had the necessary finances.  

He describes early on how he was told that a perpetual motion device was worth its weight in gold, or words to that effect.  Clearly, despite his strong religious convictions he wanted fame and fortune and he went all out to get it, via his chosen route - a perpetual motion machine.

There were three possible outcomes to his search for the solution to perpetual motion.  The first outcome; his search ended in success and he sold the secret for 100,000 Thaler.  That didn't happen. Secondly, he succeeded in finding the secret but failed to sell it.  That is the outcome we all know, and which we hope to correct in order to achieve his desired ending, if post humously.  But the third outcome involves him spending his entire life searching for the elusive secret and never finding it.

What might his life have been like in those circumstances?  Actually he had several options open to him.  Herr Weise, his schoolmaster, had tried to educate many of his pupils for positions within the establishment, and we know that Bessler was a star pupil in which case perhaps his prospects were good for a position at court, or within the maintence of large organisations such as Kassel, as blacksmith, surveyor, armourer or instrument maker - he had the skills. Or he could have continued as an organ maker or a medical man, even if not entitled to call himself a Doctor, or even found work as a watchmaker. His options seem almost limitless compared to most who had his upbringing.  We know he had an entrepreneurial ability, so his chosen course seems almost suicidal given the reception his claims had.

But he never wavered from his determined course, despite numerous setbacks, he seems to have been obsessed with finding the secret. Such a preoccupation or fixation is easily understood by we fellow researchers, but hopefully we do not exclude all external stimuli to the degree he did.  We are required to work, to earn a living and provide for our families to some extent, if possible.  This limits the time we can spend in our chosen field of research, but Bessler states that the chief reason he succeeded when all before had failed, was for the very simple reason that he had no family and no income other than that required to feed, clothe himself and fund his activities.  He was therefore able to devote evey working hour to finding the secret of perpetual motion.

This brings me to another aspect of our research.  Much is made of the marvellous ability of simulation software to permit the testing of various designs.  Yes I agree it can be a great time and expense saver, but only if you have the complete design available to input. One of the greatest benefits for me has been the occasional 'eureka' moment when, in mid-assembly of a particular mechanism, I suddenly see an alternative which looks more hopeful than the current design, and I either complete the assembly I'm working on before returning to the new avenue of promise to test my new revelation, or sometimes I forgo completion of the current assembly and go straight to the modified version.

I'm sure many will say that obviously the new avenue of design did not fulfill its promise and therefore such revelations are not worth exxperiencing, but I disagree.  One of those periodic revelations were exactly what Bessler experienced and many of us who insist that hands-on building is the only way to achieve success know exactly what I mean.

One more thing; producing a sim of a working wheel will have absolutely no benefit in convincing the vast numbers of sceptics in accepting the claim to success.  Neither will producing a video of a working wheel.  The only thing that will convince is the precise description of all the parts with explanations of how and why they work ...plus a full explanation of the actual concept; the reason why it does not conflict with the physical laws.  Once that information is published and enough people test the theory and explanation to prove the claims, then and only then will the concept be accepted and become incorporated in the world of science.

JC