In a recent blog I posted a small coded clue, thinking that if anyone had a go at it they would need help in solving it. Wrong! One anonymous person got it quite quickly. The clue was an anagram, which looked like this. “Karl’s next mobilizers sunk.”
The solution was this, “kreuz means x in storksbill"
Check this earlier blog
Friday, 10 November 2017
So what does this mean? When I published Apologia Poetica my translator suggested Kreuz meant crossbar, as there were literally dozens of potential meanings available depending on the required meaning and he could not think of anything more suitable. But actually the basic translation is “cross”. Knowing Bessler’s propensity for offering clues which are vague or have more than one meaning and with no apparent reference to other things, it took me a while (about 30 years!) to make the connection. The X's also known as “crosses” are a basic component of the famous “storksbill” or “pantograph”. Some shown in red and some in yellow as below.
This seems to me to suggest that although the pantograph mechanism was used, it was a small part not requiring a lengthy travel, just more than one link. He possibly designed it as one rectangle without an X to begin with and then adapted it as he saw fit.
He also takes the opportunity to throw in the information that he used cords and pulleys as well as weights. If you study my version of the “Toys” page (first published here on Wednesday, 16th January 2013) you will see that I've divided each component of 'A' into five equal parts. The divisions run across the page to include the scissor mechanisms. The line including the top of 'A' and 'B' division includes three pieces of scissor mechanisms, but only two complete X's. This I believe was done because he identified the parts of the scissor mechanisms with the X for purposes of confusion, but although there are three complete pieces of scissors, there are only two X;s, hence the suggestion he needed more than one.
JC.
