It seems clear enough that Bessler had always intended to insert coded information embedded within his publications, because by applying a simple code to his name, Orffyre in place of Bessler, he draws our attention like a magnet to see what else is to be found. He adopted his pseudonym immediately he began to exhibit his first wheel at Gera, and we can infer that he was following a carefully thought out plan of action. Even his first publication Grundlicher Bericht contains a number of ciphers, and a large variety of codes becomes apparent in his subsequent publication Apologia Poetica. Even his last and most impressive work, Das Triumphirende follows the same trajectory, containing a number of pieces information veiled in innocent looking text.
So the question is, why? What reason prompted him to spend what must have occupied his mind for many hours, presumably also at the same times as working on his wheels? He was certainly fascinated by ciphers of all kind, having been taught about them by the Jesuit priest and the Rabbi he met in Prague. I have argued that the information was embedded in all his publications in case he was forced to prove his priority in designing a perpetual motion machine, but this would not be necessary if he had sold his machine and he certainly expected to do so. If, as happened, he didn’t sell it, perhaps he needed the proof of his precedence if someone else demonstrated the secret before he had acquired a buyer. Even then what possible benefit to him would that be? Ultimately he hinted that he would prefer to die without selling it than give it away while he still lived.
He sought fame and fortune, and some might suggest that perhaps the fortune part was not as important as the fame, but I don’t think so. The sum of money he asked for was huge. He wanted acknowledgement of his discovery and even if someone else won the prize, Bessler could still prove he was first in the search for a successful perpetual motion machine. But he must have had a plan to provide the means of either deciphering his clues and codes, or publishing a full explanation showing how to unravel them. Yet the codes and ciphers are so obscure as to practically defeat the efforts of most people, so we are left with the same question - why?
I think that the whole field of codes, ciphers, secret messages, chronograms, alphabetic substitutions, alphanumerics etc, absolutely fascinated him and he was an inveterate showman, performer and egotist. Perhaps he looked forward to explaining to his future rapt audience how he cleverly hid all the information needed to build his machine, under the very eyes of those who sought out his secret.
JC
