Friday 5 January 2018

Johann Bessler and the Orffyreus Code

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine.  For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine it.  Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, he devised a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.

After more than thirty years he died in poverty.  He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money and the buyer take the machine without verifying that it worked.  Those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble.

This problem was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. It is well-known that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that post humus acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.

I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 72).  I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

It has recently become clear that Bessler had a huge knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications.  I have made considerable advances in deciphering one of his codes; the simplest one, and I am confident that I have the complete design.  Due to unfortunate family circumstances I am currently unable to complete the build I have undertaken but shall return to it as soon as possible and I sincerely believe that 2018 will see the reconstruction of Bessler’s wheel.

Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog.  In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links.  It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?"  Bessler published three books; "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende..."

I have also published Bessler's collection of 141 drawings and I have called it Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to do so at some point.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit one of my web sites at www.theorffyreuscode.com

One last thing.  Perpetual Motion machines have been utterly proscribed and Johann Bessler’s claims ridiculed - however, it seems that more than a handful of scientists have now come to the conclusion that it might theoretically be possible to design a mechanical system which is continuously out-of-balance and therefore will turn continuously using the repeated fall of weights for energy.  Gravity but not directly.  These open-minded people remain tight lipped for now, awaiting proof of their hypothesis.

JC

11 comments:

  1. As the veil is opened and the simple solution is revealed the greatest of all things will be the benefit of the human race. Thank You John Collins for your tireless efforts

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    1. And thank you for your kind and encouraging words. Fingers crossed that all turns out well.

      JC

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  2. Maybe this question has been asked before, but couldn't magnets be used as weights to offset the center of gravity as long as they are repelling each other?

    Perpetualman.

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  3. Hello John, it’s been a while since I’ve posted on the site. I’ve had other matters to take of. Anyway want to see how you wheel was coming along. Anyway just have a question, is it possible that someone can use magnets inside a gravity powered wheel to make it turn continuously?

    I’ve seen many designs of magnet powered wheels on the Internet, however I’ve never seen any magnets used in such a way where it can truly offset the center of gravity. What is your comments on this?

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    1. I can’t give you a definitive answer Perpetualman, but I can tell you that my personal opinion is no, I don’t believe magnets can be used in this way, but I may be wrong.

      JC

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    2. Thanks for your input John. By the way, did you start building your wheel yet? And if so, are hopeful or doubtful?

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    3. Yes I started my build several weeks ago, but due family illness everything has been put on hold, but I will get back to it as soon as I can,. I’m more than hopeful! 😀

      JC

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    4. I'm sorry to hear that the family is ill. There's so much sickness going around in this world. I hope they get better soon. By the way, I read one of Bessler's quotes as saying that, the weights he used where "hanging" as if on a rope?

      Does that mean that for a true gravity wheel to work, the weights need to be hinged or tethered to a rope in order to off set the center of gravity?

      Every wheel that I've built has used this method and I get the same results. Can you or someone on this forum elaborate on this thought?

      Thanks :)

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    5. Perpetualman, can you tell us where you read the weights were hanging?

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    6. My bad, I just realized that Bessler was describing clocks in this partial quote:

      “Unlike all other automata, such as clocks or springs or other hanging weights which require winding up or whose duration depends on the chain which attaches them,”

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  4. Hanging implies a suspended weight free to move to one side or the other, otherwise it is a rigid connection regardless of the shape of the structure holding the weight. Perhaps something like hanging weights on the descending side in MT21/23, or possibly like the A weights in MT31.

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The True Story of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine.

On  6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had s...