Sunday 8 September 2019

Revisiting www.besslerswheel.com, 'kiiking' and Bessler's MT.

In 2010 I updated my web site at www.besslerswheel.com to include what was then my latest thinking about Bessler’s wheel.  Now, thanks to a comment on this blog, almost ten years later I returned to my site to read what I had written back then, and I’m pleased to note that it is not too far from my current thinking in a general sense.  The swinging technique described there was not intended to imply that swinging was a necessary part of the mechanism, but I was looking for clues as to where and when to apply force to the wheel to make it turn and I used the actions of getting a swing started and accelerated to identify the best positions.

I introduced the sport of kiiking from Estonia, which, it seemed to me might have some useful input to the question of how Bessler’s wheel worked. In Estonian, ‘kiik’ means ‘swing’. In kiiking, the swing arms are made of rigid steel to enable a person to swing through 360 degrees passing over the pivot bar of the swing.  The person swinging is fastened to the seat by their feet in order to support them as the swing goes upside down during one complete rotation. In order to swing he (or she) begins to pump it by alternately squatting and standing up on the swing. The swing gains momentum and can rotate right around the pivot bar.  It is a competitive sport in Estonia and the person who succeeds in completing complete revolutions with the longest shafts is the winner.

 
Here is a link to the above town provided by PLMKRN with thanks
 
My theory was very simple, too simple compared to what I now know, but nevertheless I think it was fairly well argued considering it was done over ten years ago.  All the weights weigh the same and there are five mechanisms for reasons I explained on the web site.  Each mechanism has two weights so there are ten in total.  These facts still apply to my current design

But now there are several alterations and additions which include the use of scissor mechanisms, cord and pulleys.  The fact that some of these are included on the 'Toys' page implies that they are required in some way but it is not as straightforward as many have assumed - and it is not as mysterious as others would have you believe. 

In my opinion, fascinating as the Maschinen Tractate (MT) is, it was originally designed as a teaching aid to be used in his Fortress of Wisdom for the education of his young apprentices in the arts and skills required in the local industries of that time.  I believe that the final pieces of information which he had intended to teach to his pupils would include how to build his perpetual motion machine.  So it would have contained full details of how and why it worked. Because of the arrest he was panicked into removing the final pages but I no longer believe that the 'Toys' page was added to replace them, I am convinced that this page was intended to be part of the whole MT.  This document too, originated from a wood cut, therefore it must have been constructed long before the arrest.  He would not have had time to create the wood cut and print it on paper, I can only surmise why he had made that page, but I think Bessler must have intended to include it within his MT, perhaps to tease his pupils with hints and clues.

To me the whole document appears to be the basis for discussion within his classrooms and that is why it includes some obviously incorrect drawings.  He intended to ask his apprentices if they can see why this or that won't work.  So what does the 'Toys' page tell us?  More on that in a future blog, but note that some of the pages in MT are not numbered but have a block ready for a number to be added, except for 'Toys' page.  The preceding page numbered MT137 also has a block but it is too big for just a number so I believe it has a bit more than just a number attached.

Just for fun here is a little clue.  It is well-known, but it has been misinterpreted and is quite important. Unfortunately I have disguised what it says!  

Karl’s next mobilizers sunk.

JC


37 comments:

  1. The preceding page with the oversized block is MT137.

    "Weights gained force from their own swinging (or movement)."

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    1. Oops! Thank you, I shall correct my mistake ASAP.

      Yes but no, I take this as meaning the weights move faster as the wheel speeds up, and therefore gain force but the swing ain’t the thing!

      JC

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    2. Here is the full context, notwithstanding translation differences.

      Wiki Clues: (paraphrased)"Weights gained force from their own swinging (or movement."

      JC's DT: The internal structure of the wheel is designed in such a way that weights (page 20) applied in accordance with the laws of Perpetual Motion, work, once a small impressed force has caused the commencement of movement, to perpetuate the said movement and cause the rotation to continue indefinitely – that is, as long as the device retains its structural integrity – without the necessity of external assistance for its continuation – such as the mechanisms which are to be found in other
      ‘automatics’ – e.g. clockwork, springs or weights that require rewinding. For this concept, my ‘principle of excess weight’, is NOT just an external appendage, an ‘added-on device’ which is there in order to cause, through application of its weight, the continuation of the motion (the revolution) so long as the cords or chains, from which it depends, permit. NO, these weights are themselves the PM device, the ‘essential constituent parts which must of necessity continue to exercise their motive force(derived from the PM principle) indefinitely – so long as they keep away from the centre of gravity. To this end they are enclosed (page 21) in a structure or framework, and coordinated
      in such a way that not only are they prevented from attaining their desired equilibrium or ‘point of rest’, but they must for ever seek it, thereby developing an impressive velocity which is proportional to their mass and to the dimensions of their housing.

      Wiki Clues: 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, these weights, on the contrary, are the essential parts, and constitute the perpetual motion itself; since from them is received the universal movement which they must exercise so long as they remain out of the centre of gravity; and when they come to be placed together, and so arranged one against another that they can never obtain equilibrium, or the punctum quietus which they unceasingly seek in their wonderfully speedy flight, one or other of them must apply its weight at right angles to the axis, which in its turn must also move."

      - Johann E. E. Bessler, 1717

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    3. Wiki Clues: specifically DT clues:

      "The internal structure of the wheel is designed in such a way that weights applied in accordance with the laws of Perpetual Motion, work, once a small impressed force has caused the commencement of movement, to perpetuate the said movement and cause the rotation to continue indefinitely" - pg 191

      "For this concept, my 'principle of excess weight'" ... "these weights are themselves the PM device, the 'essential constituent parts' which must of necessity continue to exercise their motive force (derived from the PM principle) indefinitely - so long as they keep away from the centre of gravity." - pg 191

      "they are enclosed in a structure or framework, and co-ordinated in such a way that not only are they prevented from attaining their desired equilibrium or 'point of rest', but they must for ever seek it, thereby developing an impressive velocity which is proportional to their mass and to the dimensions of their housing." - pg 191

      "a machine made up of material, therefore heavy, substances and parts, assembled in such a fashion that once it has received an externally-given motive force will never lose it but will continue endlessly without interruption to retain that motion." - pg 219

      "the motive force, the ability to move itself and drive other objects makes up the FORM of the device" ... The "essence" - pg 221

      There is little doubt that the paraphrased version lacks context and so could be misleading. Bessler is saying that his gravity imbalance wheel innately wants to rotate, because the CoG/CoM is to the side of the Center of Rotation (axle pivot). IOW's there is surplus positive direction torque to keep it turning, once started for the two-way wheels.

      So "swinging" would be misleading and would not be the correct interpretation while "movement or motion" would be. The weights once in motion are the essential parts and the cause of the imbalance of force (mass x acceleration) i.e. accumulating momentum and Rotational Kinetic Energy.

      Kiiking (active energy input per cycle) has nothing to do with Bessler's Perpetual Motion Principle which is completely passive and an innate motion of weights.

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    4. Your last sentence seems to ignore my early comment in the above blog which went, “The swinging technique described there was not intended to imply that swinging was a necessary part of the mechanism, but I was looking for clues as to where and when to apply force to the wheel to make it turn and I used the actions of getting a swing started and accelerated to identify the best positions.”

      Also, although I’m grateful for your inclusion of all that text, I was actually the one who originally supplied all of it too many years ago to recall, so I’m fully awarevof what I wrote back in the early 1990s, and I had read the original some 50 years ago.
      JC

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    5. The point was to bring to the blog readers attention that the "swinging" translation of your disguised clue is the often misinterpreted. "Force des Schwung" in German is not translated as "swinging". It is momentum or impetus. Bessler says that one initial impressed force is required to get his bi-directional wheels rotating, with his Principle of Perpetual Motion, thereafter no further external force input is required to maintain wheel momentum. Stewart Hughes provided English translations for both the German and Latin passages in DT to support that view. They can be read and examined elsewhere.

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    6. I get it anon, and of course I’ve read Stewart’s excellent work, but you still seem to be ignoring the point I was making, that by observing the mechanics of the swing, one could identify the best point in each rotation to aim a force, however obtained, to cause the wheel to rotate, which means that one may start with overbalance but continued rotation will require something more than that.

      JC

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  2. "weights gained force from their own swinging" is basically definition of mechanical positive feedback.

    It is strange that mechanical positive feedback can be found in buckling phenomena and it is more strange that you can find buckling phenomena demonstrated in Bessler's MT18, which he states there is more in that design...

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    1. Thanks yellow, I admit I had to look up buckling phenomena to understand your point, but it well made.

      JC

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  3. Leluleht sisaldab endas ülitäpset juhist kuidas kõik tööta-s/b, kuid seda näeb alles siis kui sul on õige lahendus. Kuna lahedus ise on seninähtutest väga erinev ja esialgu tundub, et ka loogika vastane. Besllerwheel.com olen näinud paari teema juures ligilähedast lähenemist, kus kõik elemendid/osad olid olemas aga need olid kahjuks täiesti valesti kokku pandud/käsitletud. Lahendus peab ühtima kõikide teiste vihjetega, ka AP joonise ja luuletusega - ahnus on kurja juur ... . AP joonis sisaldab rohkem kui ühte vihjet endas. Lisaks sisaldab AP endas "viidet koos "võtmega" juhatades täpselt lelulehele. Jälle, kahjuks nähtav ainult pärast seda, kui sul on lahendus.

    Viis ja viiskümmend viis on üli-hästi lahti kodeeritud vihjed Johni poolt. Need on ülitäpsed ja vajalikud vihjed. Ilma neid omamatta ei ole võimalik lahendust leida. Kuid tulenevalt Johni viimestest vihjetest enda ketta kohta, kahtlustan hetkel siin, et Ta kasutab antud infot natuke valesti.

    Ei ole vahet kas ketta sees olevat liikumist / "jooksmist" :) nimetada kiikumiseks või mitte. Kui keskenduda ainult ketta sisele tasakaalutuse leidmisele ja samas mehhanismides puudub "positiivne impulss" (allapoole suunatud) koos samaaegse potensiaalse energia salvestamisega. Ilma nendeta ei ole võimalik tulemust saavutada. Mehanismid peavad üksteist segamatta, vabalt liikuda saama.

    Mul on siin juba pikka aega huvi mis liigitub müstika valdkonda: kas lõpuks John, mina või keegi teine ... ning ma ei ole üldse pahane kui selleks osutub siin John.

    AOO (missing vowels) ... neile kes panevad tähele

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    1. This is google translation of above Estonian comment. Rest follows.

      “The toy page contains a step-by-step guide to how everything works in / b, but it is only visible when you have the right solution. Because the solution itself is very different from what we have seen so far, and at first it seems to be against logic. Besllerwheel.com I've seen an approximate approach to a couple of topics where all the elements / parts were present but unfortunately they were completely misconfigured / handled. The solution must match all the other clues, including the AP drawing and the poem - greed is the root of evil .... The AP drawing contains more than one hint in itself. In addition, the AP contains a "reference" with a "key" pointing exactly to the toy page. Again, unfortunately, only visible after you have a solution.”

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    2. “Five and fifty-five are extremely well-decoded hints by John. These are highly accurate and necessary clues. Without them, no solution can be found. But based on John's recent clues to his own disk, I suspect at this point that he is using this information a little bit wrong.

      It does not matter whether the movement inside the disk / "running" :) is called swinging or not. Focusing only on finding the imbalance inside the disk and the same mechanisms do not have a "positive pulse" (downward) with simultaneous storage of potential energy. Without them, the result cannot be achieved. The mechanisms must be able to move freely without interfering with each other.

      I've been interested here for a long time in the realm of mysticism: finally John, myself or anyone else ... and I'm not at all annoyed if this turns out to be John.

      AOO (missing vowels) ... for those who notice”

      JC

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    3. Thank you for your comment in Estonian, what an amazing thing google translate is. I didn’t even know for sure what language it was written in. I’m intending to post something about the Toys page, and I agree with you that the meaning in the Toys page will only become visible once you have the solution, which I obviously think I have.

      I’m not sure why you think there are missing vowels AOO or where they are missing from?

      JC

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  4. Link to actual place, where this kiiking picture was taken:
    https://www.google.ee/maps/@59.4354789,24.7438651,3a,90y,111.62h,117.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sX5PX_yUhCNDf2vJpajZVAQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

    PLMKRN

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    1. Thank you PLMKRN, I don't know how you found that but Ive posted your link in the blog.

      JC

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  5. I think we have been over this before.. der Schwung | die Schwünge most likely means momentum or "drive", as Schwing would more likely be used for swing.. As I recall the original text, it says that the machine/drum receives it's motive force from internal "Schwünge" rather that from external sources..

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  6. Nobody’s had a go at my little clue yet ... 🤔

    JC

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    1. > Just for fun here is a little clue. It is well-known, but it has been misinterpreted and is quite important. Unfortunately I have disguised what it says!
      "KARL’S NEXT MOBILIZERS SUNK"

      That reshuffles to:
      "Six Lb. links make zero turns"

      While that might be analog to each other and true in some situation, it doesn't make any sense JC!
      :-)

      Got a hint?

      M

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    2. Well, as you guessed it is an anagram. It has five words and one of them has only one letter in it. So four words plus one letter.

      JC

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    3. 23 letters in total. 5 words of which one has one letter.

      English language has only 2 one letter words > a & i

      u x and z must be contained the the remaining four English words

      If 'i' is the single letter word then axle, axis are possibilities from a well known clue, or part clue.

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    4. There are not too many words with a single z in them. (English or American spelling)

      a b ee ii kk ll m nn o rr sss t u x z (alphabet list)

      a ee ii o u (vowels present)

      b kk ll m nn rr sss t x z (remaining consonants present)

      c d f g h j p q v w y (letters not in any of the four words)

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    5. Ok here’s another little clue to help. Sometimes under certain circumstances, there can be other examples of a single letter word.

      JC

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    6. The letter o could be used as a word, like o wow that's cool, but i think John is referring to a consonant like x. The etc symbol and crossbar is linked, and you always have to consider deliberate misspellings. For example, Bessler can be written as Bezlir.

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    7. Good thinking anon, you’re partly on the right track. No misspellings as far as I’m aware.

      JC

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    8. Two of the words are likely 'x' and 'kreuz' (not an English word).

      17 letters remain for 3 words from

      a b e ii k ll m nn o r sss t

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    9. Very good anon, right so far!

      JC

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    10. "kreuz means x in storksbill"


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    11. WELL DONE! Kreuz means cross and refers to the X's which make up the storksbill/scissorjack, nothing to do with crossbars.

      JC

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    12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    13. There have been numerous discussions on BWF about what Bessler meant by crossbars with suggested designs using crossbars.

      JC

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  7. Karl's mobilizers is a ship with three smoke stacks. That means the next mobilizers had four stacks like the Titanic. This is confirmed as we are told the next ship sunk, which it did. The four stacks are like the four stampers in DT. The Titanic tilted as it sunk indicating the torque involved. There are really five mechanisms, but only four stampers are shown, indicating the odd one out is on the bottom right of the ship, bringing it down, turning it clockwise, as it should be.

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    1. Actually, in his book, Ken said there were eight mechanisms and that each stamper acted twice, one in each direction of up and down. That's the up smoke and down smoke in each of the ships four smokestacks.

      Delete
    2. Hi John .. I understand from what you wrote that you are looking for a timed movement of mech weights, from 5 mech sets with 2 equal masses each mech, to apply an accelerating force to your gravity wheel. And that you have latterly added scissor mechanisms, cord and pulleys to the design as an upgrade to your thoughts of 10 years ago. Also saying that the swinging a pendulum approach, from the example of the kiiking action, is not your objective to produce that acceleration. I therefore have to conclude that the acceleration you are after must be a direct result of timed CoM shift of mech weights and torque (A)symmetry produced from that rearrangement of mech CoM. OK, I think we can visualize some of what you are attempting to achieve from your statements.

      My questions actually relate to your later comments in the blog. I don’t want to be picky but some things don’t gel for me. You say that you don’t now believe that the ‘Toy’s Page’ was inserted after the arrest, because it was a wood cut and he didn’t have time to produce and print it. B. Was arrested in 1733 and died in 1745. To my way of thinking he had plenty of time after the arrest, to remove certain pages, and substitute others. MT was in his possession until his death and was never published in his lifetime. Additionally B., it is assumed, added the hand drawn spinning top to the page at some later date. To presumably add another clue to wheel componentry.

      Further, you say that ...

      “... but note that some of the pages in MT are not numbered but have a block ready for a number to be added, except for 'Toys' page. The preceding page numbered MT137 also has a block but it is too big for just a number so I believe it has a bit more than just a number attached.”

      FWIW .. B. carved the numbering in the blocks sequentially to MT104. After that, including the ‘Toy’s Page’, he did not carve in the numbering. But the Toy’s Page has a vacant number block like the preceding MT’s. At least it appears to me to be a blacked out (uncarved) number block top center. The last 2 drawings of your MT don’t have number blocks however.

      Best -fletcher

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    3. Hi Fletch. Thanks for commenting. I believe that the ‘Toys’ Page has more useful clues in it than I gave it credit for. This impression is due to my having identified and solved a number of clues which have guided me towards what I think (hope) is the solution. I thought I had it subsequent to your excellent simulation a while back, but there was a problem in actually building it and I could not understand how to get this particular part of the mechanism to work as I imagined it. But then I found the solution in the ‘Toys’ page. This made me think that this page was a vital addition to his previous clues. To my mind then, Bessler had already designed and printed the ‘Toys’ page prior to his arrest. But actually he could have added it as an extra clue. I should also mention that there is another clue to helping solve this particular clue elsewhere so the two clues complement each other, in typical Bessler ‘two clues’ style.

      JC

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  8. RAF John, I still like the kiiking movement when you add the additional seat across the diameter which works in tandem with the first. This lends itself to mounting on a crossbar. For a clockwise wheel, do your primary weights swing counter-clockwise in a part of one cycle?? Thanks

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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...