I know I’ve posted on this subject before but I've always maintained that the only way to solve the problem of Bessler’s wheel is to try to build it and not to try and do it with computer simulations alone. If I was a betting man I would wager that Bessler’s wheel will not be discovered without a build, a working model. I don’t just mean that a working model is essential in proving your solution works, no what I mean is, all those who design through simulations alone will not succeed in finding the solution. The reason why is clear to me and has been amply proven (to myself) several times over.
For instance I believe I have had the solution to Bessler’s wheel for several months but knowing how it was done and discovering how to make it work, in the flesh so to speak, is another matter altogether. You see I had the design down pat and I manufactured the pieces and put them together and for reasons I didn’t understand at first, one part of the mechanism I made simply would not move according to the way I wanted it to do. The action was wrong. It was close but not close enough. I made numerous alterations to try to correct its action but I could not get it right. I searched through Bessler’s works and eventually I found the answer in the ‘Toys’ page. The answer was in front of me for years and years, but I had thought it was a clue to another part of the mechanism. The part I thought it applied to had already been shown with the correct information in another place. So this particular part shown in the ‘Toys’ page revealed the correct alteration to the mechanism and as soon as I made the changes it worked in accordance with my design intentions.
The point I’m making is that I would probably never have thought of the adjustment if I hadn’t interpreted it correctly in the end, thanks to the particular feature on the ‘Toys’ page. But if I had simulated it without a prior build I might have assumed that my design was right and very likely it would have been rejected. Or perhaps the simulation would have approved the design, wrongly, but then a working model would have failed. So even though I might simulate my design and it either proved I was right, or proved I was wrong, I would not have discovered that the mechanism was wrong until I tried to build a proof of principle machine. Through building your design you learn and discover new designs, new concepts, think through to new angles and even that old favourite, think outside the box.
Discovering that the mechanism would not act correctly did not put me off because I knew that the basic concept was right and that some kind of alteration or addition was needed to make everything work together. I tried several variations to bring the mechanism under my control but I didn’t think of the one thing which would have worked. Bessler seems to have provided hints for every obstacle encountered along the way, but obviously it will only help those who build.
NB - I haven't finished building the wheel yet,
NB - I haven't finished building the wheel yet,
JC
