Sunday 14 July 2019

Johann Bessler the Showman.

When Johann Bessler discovered the secret of free, clean and simple energy generation, he didn’t concern himself with the ‘expert’s opinion that what he was claiming was impossible.  He knew instinctively if he could work out the correct arrangement of weights his wheel would spin.  He understood that the energy which made his wheels turn came from the weights, and they were made to fall and create an out of balance wheel by the action of gravity on them.  There was nothing magical about it, it was the natural heaviness of all things which had mass.  The heavier a weight was the more potential energy it had. 

When he found the right arrangement, the wheel began to rotate.  He had to stop it by force, which means that if he released it, it would begin to spin again, therefore it must have been permanently out of balance. Obviously to conserve the machine he fitted a brake so that it would not wear out its parts when not required to move.

It is not logical to suggest that he stopped it in a certain position so that it would begin to spin as soon as the brake was released.  There was no such position available, otherwise the wheel could not even begin to spin continuously and without permanent imbalance there would portions of each rotation which would present as slowing down and then speeding back up.  More than one witness remarked on the extremely steady and even rotation of the wheel.

We know that the wheel could be slowed down under load.  Early witnesses to the first wheel at Gera, were allowed to adjust the speed by means of a bolt which could be screwed in or out as desired, to apply a braking pressure.  We also know that the largest wheel, at Kassel, turned at 26 rpm, whenturning freely, but slowed to 20 rpm when lifting the box of bricks.  Again this is logical and not a negative factor, all machines tend to slow when under load.

I note that there are a few negative opinions expressed here about the potential of Bessler’s wheel.   No one can possibly know at this stage what potential there may be in this device, nor what other uses it may be adapted to.  We judge the potential power of Bessler’s wheel by the tests demonstrated over 300 years ago, but we cannot make accurate assumptions based on so little information.  Wolff suggested that the four times pulleys visible at the Merseburg test were needed to lift the box of stones, but we don’t know if that was necessary for the lift, or merely to slow it down for the witnesses.
That is just one example of the dangers of trying to assess the wheel’s potential from limited evidence.  That wheel turned at almost twice the speed of the Kassel wheel, although it was the same size but only just under a foot thick...why?  Did Bessler deliberately design it to turn slower?

The Merseburg wheel had an axle of just under six inches (5.6inches) and it turned at around 40 rpm although some reports indicated a speed of 50 rpm, perhaps when unloaded. A 5.6 inch axle has a circumference of 17.58 inches, so for a rope wrapped around the wheel it would travel 17.58 inches for each turn of the wheel.  40 turns would lift a weight more than 58 feet in one minute,  to the top of the Schloss Merseburg.

When Wolff visited Merseburg he commented on the pulley system and included it in his report,  suggesting that this might indicate that the wheel was not very powerful.  But there are a couple of  things to bear in mind about this report.

Firstly Wolff was on the brink of accepting an offer of a very senior position with the Czar of Russia, Peter the Great, and we know that the Czar was planning to buy Bessler’s wheel, and Wolff stated that he could improve the performance of the wheel if he were allowed to have access to it in his new position. So take his apparent dismissal of the wheel's power with a large pinch of salt.

Secondly, Bessler was the consummate showman and having noted Wolff’s comments about the pulleys he designed a wheel which moved more slowly but with the same amount of power.  I think Bessler added the pulleys at Merseburg, to slow down the lift because a one minute lift created its own problems.

For a start Bessler needed his brother down in the castle yard to load the chest of  bricks to the rope and shout when he was ready. Someone had to tell Bessler when to stop the wheel when the box reached the pulley, outside the window. Then he needed to reverse the lift back down to his brother and stop the wheel before it completely unravelled from the axle.  A second demonstration immediately could be arranged and repeated as often as wished, but how much better if he slowed the lift down fourfold. More time for each lift, more time for the witnesses to study the wheel in action, and fewer demonstrations necessary to show its lifting power without any loss in performance.

Also with  all the witnesses crowded into the machine room, watching Bessler, and peering out the windows to see the load going up and down, it must have been difficult to satisfy everyone present. No wonder he decided to make the wheel at Kassel turn more slowly. He did state that he could make wheels with different speeds and lifting capabilities and of various sizes.

One more thing; we note that the chest held about 70 lbs of stones.  Have you ever lifted 70lbs? The average hold luggage on an aircraft is about 50lbs, so 70lbs is probably more than sufficient to make the point.

JC






25 comments:

  1. I believe one of his comments also referred to the power of the wheel which was a function of its diameter. SO..... it easy to assume that the longer the moment arm is a critical element. All that leverage focused on an action that then moves the weight

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  2. You seem to be promoting the idea that Bessler's wheels had high power outputs and he was purposely slowing them down to reduce their power outputs and speeds for particular demonstrations. The only way he could reduce the speed of a wheel continuously was by attaching a load to be moved to its axle or attaching those dual pendula to the cranks at the ends of a wheel's axle. Using a screw in bolt on an axle pivot could probably only be done momentarily to slow a wheel down otherwise the constant drag would have damaged a rotating steel pivot. I think once the weights were installed in a drum during its construction, each wheel then had its maximum torque and power output at start up and it decreased steadily as the axle began to accelerate an attached load. That starting torque and power output was completely predetermined and fixed by the diameter of the drum and the mass of the weights and levers used. The fact that a simple screw in bolt pressing on a steel axle pivot could keep a one way wheel from automatically starting to rotate indicates how very low their start up torques and power outputs really were. Yes, it's possible that, once Bessler's design is known with certainty, it can be improved upon to greatly increase its start up torque and power output to make his invention a practical source of power. It's also possible that this can never be done for some reason that will become obvious in the future. Better, imo, to err on the side of caution when it comes to speculating about what Bessler's wheels did in the past so one will not be too disappointed if future reproductions do not perform up to one's inflated expectations.

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    1. I’m not necessarily promoting anything, I’m merely trying to balance the constant disparagement of Bessler’s wheel’s potential output. You have your opinion and I have mine. It seems perfectly obvious to me that Bessler could design wheels with different outputs and speeds according to requirements for a particular use.

      My expectations are no more inflated than yours are deflated.

      JC

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  3. The water screw lifting test might be a better yard-stick for subjective power output. It could be used to pump out flooding mines as was the intention for the early steam engines. There doesn't seem to be much reason for Bessler to sandbag the water screw results. A screw turning lifting a certain volume of water a known height in a known amount of time, and the water flowing back down to the container. To the observer it would be right there in front of them while the wheel turned all in sight at any one time.

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  4. todya I visit good freind in hospital. he long times besler wheel chaser like i used to be and got hurt bad doing that. he see all the MT pics and then no can gets pic numbr 100 out of brain. he say it have to work and he going to proves it. he decide to make big MT 100 machine and put on side of house for all to see. i says first he should makes it small for top of table. no! he wants it big so few monts ago he starts to build it. costs about two thosands of dolars. two weeks ago he working on axel of wheel part and here what happen. machine suden start with him inside wheel part!

    https://media.tenor.com/images/8c8052871bf2d3f556346576d48e15c3/tenor.gif

    machine finaly stop running and firemen guys get him out. but he in bad shape. he have 14 broken bones and big bump on head! docs patch him up okay with lots of metal plate and pins and screws made of that titinium metal. he should be out of hosptial in few more weks. he tell me tody he finaly learn leson and ready to quits chaisng the wheel forver. i thinks he make right move this time. but hard to quit. i know. he probaly be right back at it wehn bones finaly heal up. next time he needs put big brake on machien before gets inside of it.

    mr. lepard spots

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    1. Sorry to read of your friend's accident, MLS. But, MT 100 will not work as he believes. That machine is just a "recirculation mill" type pm machine. They only run as long as the amount of water falling per second (in this case in the compartments of the giant wheel on the left) exceeds the amount rising per second (in this case supposedly being lifted due to the turning of the screw inside of the vertical wooden cylinder on the right). That, however, would then result in the supply of water in the top holding tank, labeled "G", eventually emptying out and no longer producing a downpour at "K" to power the water wheel on the left. But there is an even more serious problem with MT 100. The machine is probably one of Bessler's earliest designs and demonstrates his then ignorance of how an Archimedean water screw type pump actually works. It cannot work in a vertical orientation as he shows and must be inclined. However, by the time he constructed the Archimedean screw water pump for the Kassel wheel, he finally realized how they work and that one is inclined in its water supply tank. I would have liked to have seen what his notes for MT 100 would have been. I wish he had completed MT. Thanks to his fired maid that never happened.

      https://besslerwheel.com/wiki/images/6/6c/Mt_100.jpg

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    2. This isn't a real story, this is an person's excuse to post an unrelated gif every day.

      John, why is this person allowed to comment their nonsense stories and gifs every day? It does nothing but clog up the comments section. It's a nuisance.

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    3. I agree, I was prepared to see if mls would either go away or post sensible comments. But obviously he is simply enjoying himself st my expense. I must ask you to leave if you can’t be constructive mls.

      JC

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  5. i thinks old lepard angry with me now like this guy.

    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/f2/1f/68f21f5fee9f03ba642f3a8d34872197.gif

    i only trys to give some smiles to cats here because without htat blog very boring and tells them nothing to helps with thier no hopes whels. so i glad to lets old lepards butt kisr cats chase me away. they no like to reads my truths about old lepard because they still think he gots all the ansers. no true! he never did. this no problems for me is more you loss then mines. but i tell you this all. if yous come back here ten yers from now because old lepard still brething you see nothing change here. same old nonsence yer after yer. nothin change. you see i be 100% right. he no show anythin to all even ten year from now. why? because he gots nothin to shows just no hope whel that never runs. but he have plenty of new dream guess clues to sells you. have yous credit cards ready! costs of spain trips going up every yer! lol! good bys now to all yous pm whels chasing cats. i hopes you all wakes up and finaly quits like i did while yous still breathing! good lucks to all!

    mr. lepard spots

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    1. I don’t know who you are, so I call you mls, but as this my blog I can delete your posts if I feel justified. Your posts are offensive to me. You are calling me a liar. I was willing to leave your posts up, but I’ve had enough of you and I feel justified in deleting your posts.

      JC

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    2. You should add approval process for comments. I think there must be something like that on blogspot.

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    3. I will miss your unique brand of satire, Mr. Lepard Spots. I found your comments to be entertaining and a bright spot in this blog for the last few months. I remain amazed at your uncanny ability to accurately predict the future. I think John wants to delete your past comments because you accurately predicted he would reveal nothing as usual last June 6th which is exactly what happened. That is what is really "offending" him and why he is now eager to erase them from history. However, he can't erase them from the minds of everyone here who read them. I don't think you actually called him a liar, but just exposed him as someone with a unfortunate habit of making promises that he does not deliver on. But, then again, we all know that there is a world of difference between talk and action. Talk is much easier than action. Peace be with you as you enjoy your non pm wheel chasing retirement and the new knee joint replacements!

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    4. No approval process required yellow, I can delete any comment if I wish.

      JC

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    5. I believe MLS posts to be fraudulent. He misspells some words while leaving others correct, and his writing style changes between posts. If I were to guess, I would suspect Ken or another spoiled left over.

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    1. I wrote about this a while ago Stephen, but it is interesting, and Bessler used it frequently in his signature. He didn't always simply sign his name, but used an abbreviation based on the upper middle diagram at the heading of this page. Sometimes he just put the circumpunct without anything attached

      To just describe it as a circle with a dot in the centre ignores the
      important meanings attached to this ancient symbol. From Bessler's perspective I think it makes an excellent symbol for his wheel. Whether he intended any coded message with it I'm not sure. I'm aware of the meanings attached to it, such a it being a sum symbol, and probably Bessler learned of its use in the kabbalha while he was in Prague, but perhaps you have another meaning and intention behind it? I'm always interested to learn of anything which might add to our sum knowledge about Bessler.

      JC

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    1. I have copies of documents from about 1727 up to 1744 and he used the complete logo, but almost alway handwritten mostly with two ‘pigtails’, and sometimes with his full signature. He may have used it earlier but I don’t have any earlier copies..
      JC



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  12. Love your work over the years John, I've always thought this is possible and although I could never put it into words as well as you have, my thinking has been the same as you from a very early age. The billiard ball has force, we can feel it. I think my imagination was crushed in school when I had to figure out maths to explain things. Later in life I studied electronics engineering at Tafe, hoping to play around with things but found myself spending all day trying to learn theory to pass exams. Like who cares if you can't square root a negative number, and all this stuff about J? What the hell does that have to do with a sine wave in a coil? I just wanted to play with coils and magnets but instead I gave up and went on a different path because math got in the way. Now I'm 45 and have my own business so unfortunately no time to work on this stuff but I do plan to start soon. Better late than never. I'm a woodworker, I have a cnc router and plan to start making parts for my hobbies instead of using it for work all the time. You've inspired me, thanks. I spent most of today and yesterday just reading your work. Looking forward to seeing you finally do it!

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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...