The Strange Attraction of the Perpetual Motion Machine

At first sight it seems remarkable that Bessler  became so committed to searching for the answer to a perpetual motion machine (PM) that he spent ten years or more trying.  This despite the established opinion, even back then, that such devices went against the laws of physics.  But actually he was not alone in this endeavour, as proven by the work of Henry Dircks who described the history of the search in his huge two volume masterpiece. He listed literally hundreds of attempts and failures both honest and not so honest, going back into the dim and distant past. Henry Dircks, Perpetuum Mobile: Or A History Of The Search For Self-Motive Power From The 13th To The 19th Century

Nothing has changed today, we still search for the magic arrangement, despite the weighty opinion against us.  Why do we continue?  Well, two reasons, firstly we and all of our predecessors know that a PM machine is possible, as long as we accept that it is gravity enabled.  How can we know without any evidence?  I can’t explain it, but it is an intuitive and instinctive piece of knowledge, something which formed an intrinsic, perhaps primitive response to a problem who’s solution appeared simple.

The second reason is founded on slightly firmer ground; we have the evidence of Bessler’s wheel, circumstantial it’s true, but it’s very strong, and the only counter argument is the traditional one which claims that it’s impossible.

Over many years I have discovered and discarded numerous ideas, designs and configurations, none worked, but lately I have come to understand just how clever Bessler was, and how ingenious his clues are despite the sheer simplicity of his concept.  He explained exactly how his machine worked and we failed to grasp the true meaning of his words. Everything he wrote had more than one meaning and was so ambiguously phrased that we are confused as to exactly what he meant. I believe I have made the intuitive leap that he made more than 300 years ago, this came about while I was going through his textual clues for the umpteenth time - and I got it….finally!

When I complete our house move I shall test my idea and see if, this time, I got it right. Of course, as I always say, I’ve been here before, many times, but this time I’ve arrived by a different route. I was going through the same old clues and hints trying to read each one in alternative way, trying different words to convey the same information.  He did after all write in a different language to English and in a time 300 years in the past, so sometimes the meanings of words can alter subtly. I don’t mean that our understanding of the words he used is wrong, but the exercise promotes a subconscious re-evaluation of the meaning - I guess! 

JC