Tuesday 7 July 2020

The Legend 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 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.

Karl the Landgrave of Hesse permitted Bessler to live, work and exhibit his machine at the prince's castle of Weissenstein.  Karl was a man of unimpeachable reputation and he insisted on being allowed to verify the inventor's claims before he allowed Bessler to take up residence  This the inventor reluctantly agreed to and once he had examined the machine to his own satisfaction Karl authorised the  publication of his approval of the machine.  For several years Bessler was visited by numerous people of varying status, scientists, ministers and royalty as well as hundreds of  local inhabitants.  Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.

Over the years Karl’s health began to deteriorate and his sons decided that it was time for the inventor to leave the castle and he was given five years salary and accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshaven. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence that his machine was genuine, Bessler failed to secure a sale and after more than thirty years he died in poverty.  His death came after he fell from a windmill he had been commissioned to build.  The windmill was an interesting design using a vertical axle which allowed it to benefit from winds from any directions.  

He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret of his perpetual motion machine, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and it’s no coincidence that this sum matched that being offered by the British Government as a reward for the invention of a way to establish a ships longitudinal position  at sea.  Bessler clearly believed his invention was equal in value.  Many people were interested in Bessler’s wheel, but 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 viewing the internal workings.  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.  He said that a bag of money should be put on the table and the buyer could take the wheel there and then.  He swore that if he was found cheating he should be beheaded, a not unlikely result if he was found to be a fraud and deceiving his ruler.

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 74).  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.
This problem of acceptance by his potential buyers 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. He implied 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.

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 his codes and I am cautiously optimistic that I have the complete design.

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, his account of the search for perpetual motion - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links.  It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?"  

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende...". I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings his Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number of loosely collected 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 


I and thousands of others around the world believe that Johann Bessler’s claim to have designed and built a perpetual motion machine, or a continuously rotating device enabled purely by gravity, was genuine.  The circumstantial evidence is compelling.  This device if reconstructed now, could potentially provide cheap clean electricity, and by reducing the need for fossil fuels, provide a huge step forward in reducing carbon emissions in a very short time.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites at
www.besslerswheel.com      and
www.orffyreus.net.                and
www.orffyreus.org

For more information go to www.free-energy.co.uk

JC 

18 comments:

  1. Hi John. Why a ruler who want buy Bessler invention would not agree about his selling condition? If it was a fraud the ruler could simple condemn Besller to death and take the money back.

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    1. You’ll have to read my book “Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?” for full explanation. But put simply, Karl, the Landgrave, was willing to sponsor Bessler’s wheel and had seen the inside and knew it was genuine and had sworn an oath never to reveal the design. He had other responsibilities which were important to him.

      JC

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  2. Your book looks very interesting, unfortunately by now I ha other study priorities. Anyway it's really sad that a inventor with a diamond like this died poor and the world never saw his brightness, yet I hope ;-)

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    1. Yes indeed, very sad but we hope to put it right soon! JC

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  3. John! Your essays become progressively better over that already! How is it possible? Well, however it might be-so, assuming-so it is-so.

    Along our line of pursuit itself (sort-of), I found a gem on YouTube for all here that thought I'd share. Just below it I made light commentary as-appropriate.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M0O9uyuPT0&lc=z23rtxlavqjletx4g04t1aokgydaw43pm32sbjdgcvklrk0h00410

    How deeeelightful -- no Anons posting up to this moment. Perhaps they have tired of existing in that state of effective oblivion?

    CHEERS!

    James

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    1. Hi James, long time no see! Amazing piece of piano playing. It didn’t occur to me that he might have accelerated his playing to complete it within his record’s allotted 12 inch span.

      JC

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    2. Greetings, John. I occasionally take a peek here to see what is cooking.

      Yes, time restrictions relating to side sizes were real. Each side 'take' having been an original, there having been no editings of performances possible until much later.

      Music is nice in many ways, one being because so non controversial. In the pages accompanying YouTube historical music postings, there is noticeably little (if any) disputing or friction happening.

      I'll try and find one of THE most interesting (and stimulating) P-M like compositions ever for linking here, namely Debussy's "Mouvement."

      Now, it is not titled a perpetual motion per se but, it very well could have been. The whirring and machine-like rhythm is unmistakably perpetual and ongoing as to impression; a machine like melody appearing here-and-there, going up-and-down and back-and-forth.

      Benno M. was a Russian who emigrated from Russia early in his career, having studied much and seriously before with Trevor Leschetizky in Austria. His home base was right there in your England, and was a great favorite of the English people, much as was Leff Poushnoff too.

      (And, also we could add to this pianistic mix Tchaikowsky's friend and great champion, Russischer Wassily Sapellnikoff hailing originally from Odessa. He, unlike the others, divided his time between there and Italy.)

      Since J.S. Bach was and exact contemporary of Bessler's (tho I think five-years his junior?), I've wondered what the great Cantor might have thought or been inspired to do, possibly, had he seen (and heard) Bessler's P-M in operation. J.S.B. was actually in Reuss-Gera consulting for an organ installation at the behest of arts dandy Heinrich XVIII, tho I am not sure about any date coincidence. (That church and it's organ burned down or up, I do believe. Sad!)

      All do take-care!

      James

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  4. I wonder if one could solve the mystery of Bessler's wheel through lucid dreaming?

    Perpetualman.

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    Replies
    1. I wouldn’t know how to achieve lucid dreaming, but I was once contacted by a group of people practising remote viewing. They had no information about me or Bessler and most of their sessions seemed unconnected with Bessler, except one who drew a dead stick man lying on the ground by a house which resembled Bessler’s windmill. I presumed that there was no information given deliberately or accidentally, but you never know?

      JC

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  5. I know night mares don't work---------------------Sam

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  6. Welcome Back James!!! Don't forget "Perpetual Motion" by Procol Harum.( The British rock band that whirled onto the music scene in 1967.) Enjoy!

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    1. Thanks RAFORD.
      Hmmm, will check that one out and, I'm sure I will!

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  7. IMPORTANT NOTICE!

    Please note, I am unable to write any more blogs due to changes made in its operation. I am trying to understand why and how to remedy the situation. I may have to move to a different blog service which seems the only alternative. I’ll try to keep you informed

    JC

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    1. Ok, the problem seems to have resolved itself. JC

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    2. Great News!! We were missing our weekly blogs.Welcome back!

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    3. Thank you! It’ll be good to be back, Richard.

      JC

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