Saturday, 23 December 2023

Preliminary to Sharing the Solution.

This is a precursor to my sharing of what I believe will prove to be the solution to Bessler’s wheel. It’s just to explain how I got to this point and to prepare the ground for my posting of the most important parts of my information.  There are many additional pieces of information which all go towards confirming my findings, but they would fill a book, which is what I’m doing.

Johann Bessler deliberately left a treasure trove of clues which once solved would, he must have hoped, lead to someone finding the solution to his perpetual motion machine. This would give him the acknowledgement he sought, albeit after his death. He wrote that he would rather receive that than just give the secret away during his life.

So how did he intend us to find his instructions for building his perpetual motion machine? First he adopted the name Orffyreus, which was a simple ROT13, or Caesar shift code. This code was a well known cipher that he knew would be picked up but maybe only followed up by those whose curiosity was piqued about the wheel.  That led to more complex coded stuff.  He dropped hints that the secret was available if you knew where to look.

You know the old adage, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, I believe Bessler left pictures of his machine showing how it worked and he also left written descriptions for two reasons. One reason is that although a picture may contain useful information, it may not be enough to complete the necessary detail, particularly because it has to be disguised so that no one could happen upon it by chance and understand it easily - and more words will be necessary to fill in the gaps even leaving out the fact that the picture had to be camouflaged for security reasons.

He disguised the information that revealed his secret by using a number of different codes both textual and graphic. I always believed that the best ones would be found hidden within an illustration and that is what I found. In my blog dated 8th June 2019, more than four years ago, I wrote, “The most instructive drawings have proved to be those found in DT. They contain everything you need to know about how to reconstruct Bessler’s wheel - yes, everything”

On the 15th November 2017, six years ago, I wrote, “So the four drawings in Das Triumphirende contain just about all the information you need to build Bessler’s wheel.”

On the 29th May 2012, eleven years ago, I wrote, “In fact only the toys drawings in MT contains useful information. There are additional hints in MT137 and in the letters 'A' which he used in MT, and there are hints too in some of the illustration numbers. The remaining drawings he was referring to are the five which appeared in his Das Triumphirende and of course the one in Grundlicher Bericht and the one at the end of Apologia Poetica. These five drawings hold almost everything you will need to build his wheel.”

For so many years I studied those illustrations without finding the key.  But over the last year or so, I believe I’ve unravelled the complex weave of hints, red herrings and sleight of hand to produce a likely contender for the solution. Like Bessler I’m going to try to demonstrate my reasoning by using illustrations more than words, but both will still be necessary.

I’m writing a blog containing the information about the design and configuration of his wheel, once it’s done I will post it here and on Besslerwheel forum for anyone to attempt a sim.  I’m also building a prototype but I’m very busy with other time- consuming activities so it might be that the model isn’t finished until some time in January.  But you never know, it’s not a very complex design, maybe I’ll get a chance to finish it earlier. Of course it could happen that a sim proves my design before I finish my prototype - or someone else does.

Finally, if I’m right about the above suggestions about the solution being hidden in plain sight in his published illustrations, and someone finally builds Bessler’s wheel according to the design I’m going to publish, it will prove beyond all doubt that we will be able to reproduce a model of Bessler’s Wheel which exactly replicates his own wheel.

I intend to publish the big reveal either on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day depending on how I am feeling on the Eve!

JC

Copyright © 2023 John Collins

Wednesday, 13 December 2023

Gravity is the Originator of Rotation in Bessler’s Wheel.

It still surprises me that some people dismiss the possibility of gravity being the chief originator of movement in Johann Bessler’s wheel. Gravity enables a Bessler-wheel to rotate by causing the weights to fall in a particular configuration.  One requirement is that the weights land in a way that generates a limited amount of rotation in the wheel.  The second requirement is that the weights can be lifted back to their pre-fall position in time to fall again, with a lot less energy than was generated by their fall.

Yes we are told that it’s impossible for two reasons.  One is that gravity is not a source of energy and therefore cannot be used to drive the wheel and secondly once the weights have fallen it would take extra energy to lift them back up again, there being less energy available.  But according to Bessler he was able to lift the weights back up using less energy than was produced by their fall.  This unused energy was available to accelerate the wheel a little, in the following rotation.

Gravity may not be defined as an energy source but it makes items of mass move downwards or fall and that is an action that we can make use of. The second requirement is necessary because without it there can be no continuous rotation. Just because we don’t know how to design a method that would allow the weights to lifted back up at a lesser cost in energy, does not mean it can’t be done.

Other energy sources have been proposed over many decades, but none can produce the same results as Bessler’s wheel did, and without revealing the source of the energy they used.

Bessler stated in Das Triumphirende…, “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.”  So we can have no doubt that the weights are indeed the cause of the PM.  What is left?  Nothing but the force of gravity.

Bessler said he had solved that problem.  We believe he was genuine, therefore lifting the weights to the necessary height can be done for less cost in energy and we can find the way he did that too. I believe I know how it was done and soon I’ll know if I’m right and so will you.

JC


Tuesday, 5 December 2023

The True Story of Johann Bessler and His Perpetual Motion.

 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 the outside of it, but it’s internal workings were kept hidden. This was because the inventor feared that his design would be copied and someone else might obtain credit for all his years of hard work looking for the solution. He followed the advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, and recommended 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. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.

Over a number of years Karl aged and it was decided that after so long it was time the inventor left the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. 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 thought only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money before the buyer was allowed to view the internal workings of the machine. But 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. 

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 78). 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.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I realised that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books. These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published and I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal enough information about his wheel,to allow “someone with an acute and discerning mind, to build one”.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites at 

Take a look at my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at 

Also please view my video at 

It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.

The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work 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 posthumous 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 confident 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 - and also my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" 

This biography contains a wealth of information about Bessler himself, as well as many quotes by Bessler and letters to him or about him from many interested parties. It tells of his life up to and including his years with Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, and what happened to him later.

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht""Apologia Poetica” and "Das Triumphirende...".

I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings “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 use them in his planned school for apprentices.

You can order copies of the books from my website at 

Printed books direct from the printer can be obtained from here

Or from the top of the right side panel under the heading ‘Bessler’s Books’.
There are also links lower down on the right side panel.

These books contain the most important information available if you seek to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

JC

Friday, 1 December 2023

Update for Christmas and Onwards to Next Year

So the end of the year approaches and I’m still building my Bessler-Collins wheel. I’m trying to finish it before New Years Eve, but if I don’t finish it by then I will still publish everything anyway, and continue with my build. 

As I’ve said before, and others have too, nothing proves the concept/design/configuration better than a working model, so even if the design is being simmed, I’ll continue with my project.

I’m not good at producing images so the explanation will be a mix of text and images. I’ll try to keep it short and as simple as I can.  I won’t take up too much space explaining where I found the clues and how I arrived at the interpretation, much of it will be fairly obvious.

The main thing is that once anyone understands the concept, it probably won’t need much further explanation.

A detailed explanation of all the clues I used is being written but that will take much longer to become available.  Bessler had no way of knowing which, if any, of his clues would be identified and interpreted or deciphered, so he doubled up on lots of clues, distributing them here, there and everywhere in text and drawings.  Some clues had two ways of deciphering them, and if they came up with the same answer that was a good result. There are literally dozens of them and that does not include the huge database containing 141 Bible references which I have barely skimmed - and although I can prove it contains coded information, I haven’t succeeded in deciphering it. I calculate that there are potentially in that chapter between 1000 and 1500 characters or words to find and decipher.

Bessler’s wheel concept is easier to understand than to build, for me anyway, but I suspect that more than a few people will accomplish a working model more quickly than I and it will look much better than mine. The skills and tools I used to have are considerably diminished but hopefully I’ve got enough left to make this model.  If not then I just hope the sims will inspire enough people to build an actual working model. 

This is a very busy time for me, not just because I’m building a model and writing up both a simple description for posting after Christmas, as well as the long term version for a later time, but I’ll also be travelling north before Christmas to stay near my granddaughter Amy and her parents over Christmas, and it’s normally a three and a half hour drive, but it being this time of the year, I reckon it could take longer.  I’m also on shopping duty!

Also, you may remember my granddaughter Amy Pohl is a TikTok and YouTube influencer with over 3.7 million followers. I fear I shall be dragooned into another of her infamous videos, along with the rest of the family.  So embarrassing!

I’m very excited and at the same time apprehensive about my big reveal!  I anticipate a kind of stunned reaction, when people see how simple the solution is.  I just hope I’m right!

JC

Monday, 27 November 2023

What Goes Around, Comes Around……Again and Again!

I’m aware that some people, (maybe more than some!) are disappointed by my ‘sharing information’ posts because they say that it’s all stuff I’ve shared before, but I don’t want to post anything which will give away the design I’m working on just now.  

As you’ll see from this post I’m reminding myself of some of the things I’ve shared, and I can tell you that there are some blogs which give a great deal of really useful information.  At the time I wrote them, I regretted writing so much, but as is often the case no one picked up on what I’d said and it was all dismissed as my ‘usual speculation’, and best dismissed or ignored. Having said that I note that in 2019 I wrote, 

Following a fair criticism in comments, I have taken on board the suggestion that I should at least have given away some of the clues I used to discover Bessler’s design for his wheel. I have posted several clues over a number of years but for those who missed them, here are some of the ones previously identified plus some I didn’t mention.  These are not necessarily in order.”

So still not revealing enough apparently!  Still, at the end of this year you will know most of what I think I know about how Bessler’s wheel worked.  I’d like to finish a working model before I publish what I know, because experience warns me  that without one, no one will take any notice again, and just dismiss it as speculation.

I recently noted that some of the subjects of my old posts, both here and on the Besslerwheel forum, pop up from time to time there.   I realise that there must be a lot of people currently exploring this subject who have not looked into old posts in either or both sources for obvious reasons.

Firstly, if they’re new to this subject, they think that only recent posts may have useful information in them and therefore there is no point in studying old posts.  Also maybe they don’t have the time to plough through huge numbers of posts without knowing exactly what to search for, or they can’t be bothered, and I don’t blame them for that.

A quick look at the stats on this blog shows I have posted 798 pages, which received 29,915 comments and 1,786,619 visits.  That’s a lot of words to search, so I thought I’d suggest some searches.

The number ‘5’ is my favourite and it goes all the way back to 2010, and is frequently discussed over the years.  ‘Pentagram’ too is a frequent presence on this blog. ‘Kiiking’ a subject which I introduced here and in the BW Forum and has been taken up in numerous other places.  ‘Parametric Oscillation’ is another old favourite, which I first discussed with the famous parapsychologist and electrical engineer, professor Hal Puthoff way back in 2004; and ‘drawings’ is another.

There are so many interesting subjects covered both here and at the BWForum, that I couldn’t do justice to them all, so if and when I think of them I may offer further searches.  

JC

Friday, 24 November 2023

Sharing Info MT 138, 139, 140 and 141- AKA — The TOYS Page

This post contains some of my ideas about where and how Bessler intended to reveal the workings of his perpetual motion device, or what is generally referred to as Bessler’s Wheel.  Without a working model this is speculation, but I believe it is based on some sound interpretation of the many clues and hints he scattered throughout his documents.

 I’ve written several blogs about the ‘Toys’ page so this is my latest and best attempt to explain all of it.

The figure below is from the original Maschinen Tractate, which is a name I coined for it because I originally thought that Bessler was referring to this collection of drawings in one of his letters but I think now he was talking about another project.

Underneath this original picture is the same figure cleaned up which is the one I’ll write about and explain what I believe is the true meaning of all the separate figures.






Notice first that items A and B can be split into five equal parts.  This signifies that there are five mechanisms.  Notice each figure in A looks similar to the two items C and D, this is to provide a hint that their actions very roughly mimic the actions of the actual mechanisms.  Each part of A is linked to the next part with a length of rope.

Items C and D are each labelled twice.  Both sets of figures show two figures working in pairs, which agrees with a statement to that effect by Bessler.  The two C’s have arms but the two D’s don’t. The two C’s show two of the figures working in pairs before they have acted; the two D’s shows the same two figures after they have acted. This implies that C did the work so was active but D was acted upon and was passive.  C lifted it’s paired mechanism and thus D was lifted. Item D has spirals which indicate that the figure is at a different angle to C, because if, for instance, C operates at the six o’clock radius the D is lifted from a different point on the edge of the circle.

It’s worth pointing out that he drew one of each mechanism but then added two D’s and two C’s to stress that the two figures were the same mechanisms working in pairs, but at different points in the rotation of the wheel.

Item B is an interesting one and I only understood why it was drawn in this way a few months ago. The answer lies partly in item E.  You can see in B that it consists of five straight vertical lines with one dot alternately on each side or, if you ignore the five separating lines, it’s a straight vertical line with those dots on alternate sides.

I’ll return to B in a moment, first let us examine item E. The items on the page are numbered 1 to 5, yet there are six, if you count the hand drawn spinning top.  This looks like a late addition to me which might explain why he wrote 5. next to his scribble note. But as someone pointed out to me many years ago, the number 5. with its clearly drawn full stop or period indicates not five items, but the fifth item - the letter E.  The scissor mechanism or storks bill.

Remember Bessler’s frequent use of alphanumerics, in this case his scribbled note in the Toys page, “5. Children's game in which there is something extraordinary for anyone who knows how to apply the game in a different way”, applies in particular to the scissor mechanism labelled E.

Now in another drawing which I’ll discuss in a later share, it indicates
that the scissor mechanism should be applied in a different way which looks like this one:-

In the above picture I have extracted items B and E because B shows which part of E you need to use. Notice the same dots are there in E but in B half of them have been removed leaving a single line. This shows the alternate swivel pins or joints holding the short lengths of metal at each end together. The middle of each piece of metal shows a pivot which allows it to rotate. If the figure B is accurate, and I’m sure it is, then there is one of these mechanisms in each fifth segment.

This is similar to the picture below which shows a simple mechanism used widely in organ building in Bessler’s time.  

Also remember Bessler’s comment in AP, “ A crab crawls from side to side. It is sound, for it is designed thus.”   This comment is a hint that this mechanism will work best in a horizontal position where there is no lifting required just side to side action.

The two short lines at the top end of the original version of B will be explained later but they indicate two positions of a short lever attached to the end of the zigzag line.

That’s all for now. More later.

JC




Sunday, 19 November 2023

Further Update on Bessler’s Wheel Model.

Building this prototype has made me realise how clever Bessler was to squeeze all of these mechanisms. into such a thin wheel.  His first wheel was only four inches thick and even allowing for very thin coverings there wasn’t much room inside. On the plus side, in my version none of the mechanisms overlap so there isn’t a problem of them taking up too much room within the internal depth of the wheel.

I’ve placed ten pivot points, two per mechanism.  The levers are a little complex and getting their configuration right requires a small amount of trial and adjustment.  I deliberately did not say trial and error, because that is not the case; it is necessary to find the optimum arrangement and this can only be defined accurately by trying slightly different adjustments to each part. I know exactly how they are supposed to work.  Once the exact proportions of one lever is correctly determined, the others can be made in the same manner.

Although none of the five mechanisms overlap in their actions, they are connected in pairs so that as one weight falls another is lifted.  There is no requirement for one pound to lift four pounds as I have explained many times. Yet, although doomed to failure,  people still try to design a system thst can do that.  This is what Bessler said, “as one weight falls 90 degrees it’s paired one is lifted suddenly just 30 degrees.”

The next and final part is designing connections between each pair of mechanisms.  At first I assumed two pulleys per mechanisms would do the job, but I’ve discovered that that won’t work because they get in the way of the action  of the levers.  It’s quite likely that the configuration can be altered to include the pulleys in their most effective position. But for now I’ve had to make alterations to the positions and even the use of the pulleys and for this prototype I’m not using them.  The alternative is to replace the pulleys with a simple eye from a hook-and-eye fastener.  This would be fine for a short demonstration but not for long term use.  The cord I’m using slips easily and smoothly through the eye.

My five weights are small and roughly equal to about 2 ounces each. Each one can easily lift another weight a short distance quickly.  Larger weights would produce more speed and overcome the friction inherent in my home-made bearings but I’m only trying to prove the design and not make a 50 rpm wheel……yet.

I’m not posting pictures until I’ve tested this device to see if it works, before I share anything more informative. Someone commented that no one could simulate the design unless I included a picture but I don’t want anyone to simulate it yet, not until I’ve tested it as a working model.  What I can say is the designs were completed by studying several drawings in AP and DT, plus the ‘Toys’ page and hints from a few others.  Even then I had to have a much needed kick up the backside by means of a sudden revelation about a drawing in the ‘Toys’ page which linked with another drawing which I thought I had understood, but I hadn’t considered for long enough all  the potential variables possible.

Anyway, slow progress but creeping progress at least.  Quite a lot of careful assembly necessary to get the levers working correctly.  As I’ve said many times, I will share all of it once I’ve tested it, working or not working, because I believe I’m very close to what Bessler designed, so my efforts might be enough for someone else to finish it. I’m aiming to finish one way or the other by New Year’s Eve, if not before.

JC

GB Grundlicher  Bericht

AP Apologia Poetica

DT Das Triumphirende

MT Maschinen Tractate.

Thursday, 16 November 2023

The True Story of Johann Bessler and His Perpetual Motion.

 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 the outside of it, but it’s internal workings were kept hidden. This was because the inventor feared that his design would be copied and someone else might obtain credit for all his years of hard work looking for the solution. He followed the advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, and recommended 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. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.

Over a number of years Karl aged and it was decided that after so long it was time the inventor left the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. 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 thought only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money before the buyer was allowed to view the internal workings of the machine. But 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. 

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 78). 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.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I realised that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books. These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published and I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal enough information about his wheel,to allow “someone with an acute and discerning mind, to build one”.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites at 

Take a look at my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at 

Also please view my video at 

It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.

The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work 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 posthumous 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 confident 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 - and also my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" 

This biography contains a wealth of information about Bessler himself, as well as many quotes by Bessler and letters to him or about him from many interested parties. It tells of his life up to and including his years with Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, and what happened to him later.

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht""Apologia Poetica” and "Das Triumphirende...".

I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings “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 use them in his planned school for apprentices.

You can order copies of the books from my website at 

Printed books direct from the printer can be obtained from here

Or from the top of the right side panel under the heading ‘Bessler’s Books’.
There are also links lower down on the right side panel.

These books contain the most important information available if you seek to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

JC

Saturday, 11 November 2023

A Brief Account of My Bessler Journey to the Present.

Between 1960, when I first read Gould’s excellent account of Bessler’s wheel and 1974 when I built my first attempt at replicating it out of balsa wood and washers, my thoughts were confined to my mind and numerous scraps of paper and pencil drawings. From then until about 1980 little changed until I made up my mind to try to obtain as much hard information about Johann Bessler and his perpetual motion machine as I could possibly manage.  This was of course before the internet made this kind of task so much easier.

I joined the British Museum Library and was able to actually touch and handle GB, AP and DT. Subsequently I obtained poor copies of those same documents, but I couldn’t read them.  I advertised in a local newspaper for anyone who could translate 18th C German into English. Amazingly I was contacted by four people, one of whom was Mike Senior who became a good friend over the next twenty years or so.

He translated everything into English, handwriting it and adding a number of notes about what he had done.  He asked me if I wanted a literal word by word translation or what he said would be his best impression of what Bessler wrote, conveying meaning and nuance where possible. I chose the latter because I simply didn’t know what was in the documents at that time.

Seeing as we all make use of his translations I should say a word or two about Mike.  For a start he was was a polymath and a member of MENSA. He was consultant to the local authority on flora, having a Masters Degree in Botany in fact several degrees in different unrelated subjects - he was just curious about everything.  He read and spoke 18th C German, read and translated  Latin and could quote from memory from all the Greek classical plays in the original Greek.  He was an expert on astrophysics and wrote papers for peer review in scientific journals.  He loved Maths problems and tried to explain String Theory and Riemann’s Conjecture to me, for example.  It went straight over my head at very high altitude! He  also like his beer!  There was so much more to Mike but space is limited. But he did once say to me, “of course you do realise that what Bessler claimed is impossible”.  We laughed and agreed to disagree.

Once I had the translations plus a number of other documents about Bessler, also in German and needing translating, I set about writing my own biography of Bessler, trying hard to stick to the facts as presented.  Most of these were either letters to and from and about Bessler, or items from the local newspapers of the time.  Included were accounts of several official examinations arranged by certain men of high standing including Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel who agreed to offer his patronage and support but only if he had first satisfied himself that the machine was genuine

I was unable to get a publisher in the U.K. to publish my book, although I only sent it to about a dozen publishers having written the manuscript in one year.  I read that JK Rowling took seven years to write her first book!  Maybe I should have held out for more publishers, but I was impatient, and decided to self publish.

Later I decided in addition to PM:AAMS? to self publish GB, AP, DT and MT.  It wasn’t profitable at all but it enabled me to just about cover my costs in running several web sites.

While this was happening I continued with my day job and in my spare time constructed many PM wheels.  I began this blog back in  April 2009.  It’s alarming to see how confident I was back then - nothing’s changed!

I’ve done numerous radio interviews both here and abroad.  I was invited to Rome to take part in a documentary about Bessler.  Unfortunately it was all in Italian, even my words were dubbed in so I don’t  even know what I said let alone what the rest of the cast said.  It was a bit of a set up as the other speakers were traditional scientists following the classic path that it was impossible.

I was asked to lecture at the Glastonbury Crop circle symposium in the mid 1990s and met Brian O’Leary a trained astronaut although he didn’t complete his training. It was a strange gig, which resulted in me discovering I could dowse for water, not a very useful trick these days, but curiously rewarding.

I also did a radio interview from home, here in England with Redneck radio in Greenwood, USA.  Hilarious but good fun.

There is so much more but I don’t want to bore the pants off you!

JC

GB Grundliccher Bericht

AP Apologia Poetica

DT Das Triumphirende

Saturday, 4 November 2023

What Was the Purpose of this Blog? To Inform.

I think sometimes that people question the purpose of this blog.  My approach has always been to try to interest everyone who happens to drop in on this blog and I’ve tried to maintain an ethical standard in my writing, not knowingly including false information but occasionally offering speculation. 

I have from time to time got carried away with an optimistic view of my ongoing research and made promises I was unable to fulfil.  I understand how frustrating this can be, and I humbly apologise.  Usually I try to curb my enthusiasm, but from time to time I fail.  A quote from Top Gun seems appropriate;” “Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash”.  I must apologise if I seem overly optimistic, but in my defence, I know that optimism is a vital ingredient in this field of research.

When I began this blog back in February 2009, I never dreamed that I would still be writing it 14 years later. and yet here I am.  I’ve described numerous clues and codes I’ve found that Bessler inserted into his publications over the years and they actually amount to a lot of information.  

As time passed I imagined in my naivety that some people would see and understand the interpretations I was giving away freely and do as I have done.  I have continued to search, find and interpret clues and codes, hoping that people would continue my work, possibly getting to the solution before me.  But no; they haven’t!  I realised fairly recently that nothing else would change this but a working model and a full explanation of how Bessler gave us the clues to solve this puzzle.  This laissez-faire attitude among my readers is possibly because everyone wants to be the one who finally finds the solution to this 311 year old mystery, using their own interpretations of Bessler’s meaning.

Be that as it may, the moment of truth is fast approaching.   The solution to Bessler’s wheel might well be a simultaneous discovery or invention.  Given that so many people are engaged in this pursuit, it’s quite possible, even likely, that two or more will announce the solution within hours of each other. I don’t mind if this happens, I welcome it, let’s let the genie out of the bottle, that’s the most important thing.

My chief aim over the life of this blog has been to try to keep the story of Bessler’s wheel alive in the mind of the countless numbers of people already engaged in seeking the solution.  It has also been my self-appointed task to try to bring the story to the younger minds who are not perhaps au fait with the legend, and of course pursue my own research whether through building models - and when that failed to materialise successfully - continue to look for new clues/codes which still awaited deciphering.

I have to admit that after so many years building experimental models that did not work, I stopped and concentrated on finding the solution without the bother of building, but since I recently came to the conclusion that only a working model would ever convince anybody that my interpretations are correct the thought of starting to build again was a little daunting, but having begun again I am enjoying it and am hopeful, finally, of success.

This has been an expensive exercise.  I originally ran 10 websites but I had to let some of them go which was a painful decision for me.  The only income I had that I could use to keep this thing going came from the sale of books which is why you will see the occasional blog promoting the legend of Bessler’s wheel. It’s getting harder to cover the expense and I can see a time not so far off, when I’ll have to let them go, but I’ll keep on while I can.

I have latterly found a few new clue/codes and reinterpreted old ones, and this information which I have been able to add to that which I already have, has enabled me to at last believe I’m almost there. My current build will be my last one, if it doesn’t work, I think I will know why, and it will then be my pleasure to release all that I know, and some that you don’t know I know! 

People often ask me if I would patent the device if I was able to build a successful one - well the answer has always been no.  Patents are not for likes of us, too expensive to get and too expensive to watch over and defend.  Besides you’re never going to stop random people and companies elsewhere in the world, building and selling their own Bessler wheels, where such niceties as moral and legal systems are overlooked. So no patents.

JC

Monday, 30 October 2023

The True Story of Johann Bessler and His Perpetual Motion.

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 the outside of it, but it’s internal workings were kept hidden. This was because the inventor feared that his design would be copied and someone else might obtain credit for all his years of hard work looking for the solution. He followed the advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, and recommended 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. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.

Over a number of years Karl aged and it was decided that after so long it was time the inventor left the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. 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 thought only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money before the buyer was allowed to view the internal workings of the machine. But 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. 

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 78). 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.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I realised that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books. These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published and I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal enough information about his wheel,to allow “someone with an acute and discerning mind, to build one”.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites at 

Take a look at my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at 

Also please view my video at 

It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.

The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work 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 posthumous 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 confident 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 - and also my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" 

This biography contains a wealth of information about Bessler himself, as well as many quotes by Bessler and letters to him or about him from many interested parties. It tells of his life up to and including his years with Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, and what happened to him later.

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht""Apologia Poetica” and "Das Triumphirende...".

I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings “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 use them in his planned school for apprentices.

You can order copies of the books from my website at 

Printed books direct from the printer can be obtained from here

Or from the top of the right side panel under the heading ‘Bessler’s Books’.
There are also links lower down on the right side panel.

These books contain the most important information available if you seek to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

JC

Tuesday, 24 October 2023

Update on Building a Working Model of Johann Bessler’s Wheel.

Things are taking longer than I anticipated due to other factors not associated with Bessler’s wheel.  Mainly it concerns my granddaughter Amy.  I don’t wish to divert attention from my Bessler occupation but we received some generous funds from kind people on our crowdfunding page a while back and by way of a thank you, I thought I would just provide a link to an update article in the Guardian newspaper. Thank you.


But here is brief update on my build.

I’ve mounted the wheel on a simple axle which I can drop into a couple of receivers as I call them. They weren’t designed to be part of a set of bearings but they do the job, I’ve used them before. There will be a little resistance or friction, but if the wheel works as I hope, it will be able to overcome it because it is designed to do work, so overcoming friction is the least of my concerns. This method of attaching the wheel to the support structure works well because it is easy to remove the wheel to work on it when it’s lying flat on the work bench. I can simply lift it out without opening the bearings.

The wheel is currently almost perfectly balanced but once the mechanisms are attached that will probably lead to some unwanted imbalance even if they are locked in place to prevent any of them acting. In my experience these are problems which can be easily resolved later. Maybe the amount of imbalance won’t affect the action anyway.

The first five pivot points are fixed and working. I think their positions relative to the axle position and the edge of the wheel are correct, if there is some adjustment needed, there are two options; one is to move the pivot points inwards or outwards, the second is to reduce the size of the mechanisms.  I don’t think this will be necessary.

There are things to be sorted out once all five mechanisms are fixed and their action is as I intended.  Placing of two pulleys for each mechanism will require a certain amount of trial and error. I know where they need to be but I may have to deal with avoiding obstruction by certain parts of the whole assembly. I’m confident that although these are potential problems I’m anticipating, I’m confident they will be simple to resolve.

This next bit is the most interesting to me. I can picture how it all works and I can’t wait to test it.  From a lifetime of experience in this field of endeavour I know that not everything will immediately turn out perfectly but I feel as though I’m on the final furlong.

I’m sure that most people think I’m kidding myself and that most of my code breaking is wrong or meaningless, and that if, as they suspect, it won’t work, then my plans to share what I know won’t be worth a penny. But I think many people will be amazed at the amount of information Johann Bessler left for us, and I plan to publish all of it, with or without a working model.

But I’m confident that it will work.

JC

Thursday, 19 October 2023

Johann Bessler’s Inspirational Dream

Three hundred and eleven years ago Johann Bessler, aka Orffyreus, exhibited something he called a perpetual motion machine.  It took the form of a wheel mounted between two pillars or supports. It rotated at about 50 RPM, and would begin to turn as soon the brake was released.  He welcomed the public who examined the device.  They were allowed to stop it, start it, or slow it down. He didn’t allow anyone to see the interior because he intended to sell the machine for £20,000.

Most people are convinced it was a fraudulent enterprise.

There are those who believe Bessler’s Wheel was genuine but don’t know where the energy came from to drive it.  

Others who accept Bessler’s words that the weights were the energy source and therefore accept that gravity provided the energy.  The problem they encounter is that we have been taught that gravity is not an energy source because it’s a force. 

The situation has resulted in deadlock.  The circumstantial evidence that Bessler’s wheel was genuine is compelling.  It’s  legitimacy was verified by the only person besides Bessler, who was permitted to study the internal workings.  This man, Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, was chosen because his reputation as an honest person of great integrity had been established over many years, acting as an honest broker trying to bring the wars that were then currently being waged throughout Europe to an agreeable end. 

His excellent reputation was critical to his role as an impartial mediator and he would never have become involved in anything of questionable authenticity. His name was a vital part of the verification, but he only accepted that role if he was permitted access to the internal structure of the wheel to confirm what Bessler claimed was true.  He described it as quite simple and expressed surprise that it hadn’t been discovered before.  He issued an official document, certifying that the claims that Bessler made regarding his perpetual motion machine or wheel, were correct.

This leaves us with an interesting paradox.  We have been taught for more than three hundred years, that perpetual motion machines defy the laws of physics, yet it would appear that this may not be true

So we have two points of view to consider. Here’s a quick reminder.

Bessler swore his machine was genuine

Karl agreed and issued a certificate stating in his opinion, the wheel was genuine

Every test devised simply added to the evidence that Bessler told the truth.  

Who is right, Bessler or the venerable scientific institutions?

Bessler began by simply showing his first wheel, spinning and being stopped and starting again.  It always began turning as soon as a brake was released. Spectators were encouraged to thoroughly examine the device but not allowed to view the interior.

News of the wheel reached the ears of that famous man of science, Gottfried Leibniz. He arranged a private meeting with Bessler to study the machine’s performance and concluded that it was a valuable machine.  He suggested a number of tests that Bessler should incorporate in his public exhibitions of the machine to persuade potential buyers of the machine’s merit.

The tests included stopping and starting the wheel, including running it in either direction.  This was a new step by Bessler who wished to make his machine able to rotate in either direction in order to silence those who claimed his machine was wound up by clockwork, this required the wheel be given a gentle nudge in either desired direction before the wheel began to turn and accelerate to its full speed. Other tests included  translocation of the device from one set of bearings to another a few paces away; allowing intense examination of both sets of bearings before and after translocation; demonstrations of the wheel’s power in lifting heavy loads and driving an Archimedes screw pump were routinely demonstrated.  Finally a 54 day test in which it was locked in a room, with a 24 hour guard outside the door.  The wheel was made to begin rotating and the room locked and sealed with Karl’s personal seal.  The rooms on either side and above and below had already been checked for some connection with the locked room.  All was found satisfactory.  After 54 days, Karl unlocked the door and he and a number of witnesses found the wheel still spinning.

So what is the answer to this paradox?  It’s clear from the history of this particular area of study that literally thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people have sought a solution to this puzzle, from the earliest inhabitants of Egypt, Sumer, the Indus valley and China up to the present day.  It seems that there is an inbuilt instinct that a device such as Bessler built is an absolute certainty if only we could discover how to build it.  Johann Bessler knew; he built a working model.

The evidence is clear, a machine which is enabled by the force of gravity to run and run, is simply waiting to be rediscovered. It’s not perpetual motion because it could come to a stop through wear and tear, accident, overloading etc. But it could run continuously without using any of the traditional sources of energy such as running water, wind, fire or the modern equivalents.

How?  Bessler said the weights provided the energy.  Energy is a property of the weights in Bessler’s wheel, but they have to be moved by the force of gravity. The weights provide a medium through which gravity can supply energy by moving them, making them fall.  

We’re all familiar with the need to lift the fallen weights at each revolution. Bessler discovered the method, it came to him in a dream, maybe a daydream.  He found the answer and in his books he provided codes and clues and hints, indicating everything we need to know to duplicate his work.  

I believe that I have found the answer and am currently building a model which I hope will be a working model! I too found inspiration in the middle of the night, lying awake considering everything.  This happened a few months ago and I’ve been working on how to make the best of use my of sudden comprehension.  Of course I have been here countless times over the last 50 years or so, but I’m confident that I have the right configuration and am trying to finish this build and then working or not, I’ll share what I believe is the solution to this very long search for the truth.

JC

Wednesday, 11 October 2023

How I Discovered Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine

I was about 15 years of age when I first encountered the Legend of Johann Bessler’s wheel. It was an excellent account written by R.T. Gould in his fascinating book “Oddities : A Book of Unexplained Facts” London 1928.  The chapter in question was called “The Wheel of Orffyreus”.  The story went as follows.

In 1712 Johann Bessler (aka ORFFYREUS) exhibited a machine which he claimed, drew its energy from gravity. Despite nearly twenty years of the most stringent tests, examinations and public trials, not the slightest sign of deception was ever found. Bessler died 33 years later, in poverty, still maintaining that his machine was genuine and there was no convincing evidence to the contrary. He had a number of supporters as well as enemies, and among his champions were some of the most respected men of the day. These men, included Gottfried Leibniz and Christian Wolff, top scientists of the calibre of Newton.

Bessler wanted to sell his machine for the sum of £20,000, a fortune in those days, equivalent to well over a million Pounds today. Despite the apparent audacity of asking such a large sum of money, it was not unique and in fact Bessler based the sum on the one offered by the British Board of Longitude, which, at the same time, was offering £20,000 to the first person to discover a means of locating the exact longitudinal position of a ship at sea . John Harrison eventually won the money although it took him and his son many years to get all of it from a reluctant British government.

Bessler failed to sell his machine, not for a lack of customers, but because he refused to allow access to his secret until he had the money in his possession. He offered his head to the axe man if he should be found to have deceived his prospective clients. But his determination not to risk being cheated defeated all negotiations. He died in harrowing circumstances years later, building Europe's first horizontal windmill to his own design of course. In mid-winter, starving, weak and in debt, he fell to his death.




These two pictures show all that remain of his last project; a windmill with a vertical axle to take advantage of any wind, regardless of direction.  For more detail about the windmill visit my web site at http://www.orffyreus.org/

After his death the remains of the building were utilised for a number of different enterprises because it was so sturdily built that it was thought too valuable to allow to fall into decay.  I took these pictures and several more and even today more than 300 years later, it is being offered for sale subject to some conditions to preserve it.

I found Gould’s account absolutely fascinating and since those early days I have checked it against historical records, and found it to be correct in every detail, although omitting much that wasn’t available to him at the time, some one hundred years ago.

There is a curious coincidence relating to this story; when Johann Bessler chose to ask £20,000 for the secret of his machine it was in the same amount in the same year that the British government offered their reward for a method of finding a ship’s longitudinal position at sea.  As I pointed out above John Harrison won the award for his marine chronometer.  

Harrison was 21 years old when the Longitude Act was passed. He spent the next 45 years perfecting the design of his timekeepers. He first received a reward from the Commissioners of Longitude in 1737 and did not receive his final payment until he was 80.

Coincidentally, at this time having taken a shore job at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, in 1920 Rupert Gould visited the museum to see the Harrison chronometers, which were very corroded and dilapidated. He was inspired and wrote to the Astronomer Royal begging for permission to restore them and offered a bond of £100 against any damage he caused. He wasn’t some over confident amateur keen to tinker with an old relic, Gould had already restored one valuable antique chronometer. The Astronomer Royal gave his consent and allowed him to do the work at home rather than at Greenwich.

Gould, over a period of many years refurbished all five marine chronometers to their original condition.  It was a truly exhaustive venture, requiring special tools to be made in addition to trying to understand how they worked.

It was Rupert Gould’s book about Johann Bessler which gained my interest in Bessler and led to a life long study of the man and his life and of course his amazing wheel.  So there is a discernible thread connecting Bessler and British Board of Longitude, to John Harrison, to Rupert Gould and ultimately to myself.

I’m 78 now and I have thoroughly enjoyed my search for the truth, because it has become crystal clear to me that Johann Bessler told the truth and despite everything I’ve been taught I know beyond a shadow of doubt that his wheel was driven by gravity.  For those who don’t believe Bessler was genuine, read the numerous witness reports, letters and certificates published after a number trials and tests carried out on the machine.  Gottfried Leibniz was convinced of the inventors sincerity after having been allowed to study it twice and for a couple of hours each time.  He recommended a number of tests which could be carried out to prove that the machine was genuine. These were incorporated in the subsequent examinations which Karl the Landgrave arranged.  My book, Perpetual Motion; An ancient Mystery Solved? (PMAAMS?) details all the certificates and letters  to, from and about Bessler.

But the most important thing is the fact that Bessler left three books full of coded information which he suggested would provide proof after his death, that he had in truth invented a real working gravity-enable wheel, which I prefer to call a Gravity Wheel.  I have deciphered many of the codes and I will be publishing the information I have found, just as soon as I have built what I believe will be a working model based on Bessler’s clues.

You can read the details of many of these codes by visiting the web sites I have provided links to, in the adjoining panel on the right. There are many details in this blog which has been running for almost ten years now.  If you wish to find the codes yourself, you can obtain digital copies of Bessler’s books, each has a full English translation at the back.

There is also one more book which he never published, containing 141 drawings showing the various historical methods which were used to try and find the solution to a gravity wheel. Bessler, who planned to open a school for apprentices, intended to use a number of these drawings to take his pupils on the same journey of discovery as he himself undertook. They are collected in a book, called Maschinen Tractate, a digital copy is also available from the same right side panel.

NB. A fuller list of the books available can be seen by clicking on the top of the right hand panel where is says Bessler’s Books.  For the books click on Bessler’s books and a biography.  They an be ordered from either end of the panel.  Click on home to get back to this page.

PS On my other blog at www.gravitywheel.com I’ve begun to share information based of the pieces of code, which I’ve never shared before.  As I’m in the process of building what I hope will be a working model based on Bessler description through deciphering his clues, the added information on that blog will lag behind my build, but it will all be shown in time, even if my build fails. This is because I believe that I have 99 per cent of the information I need to make a successful build.  So even if it fails the information will be there for someone else to carry on the work I’ve started.

JC


                                                            Copyright © 2023 John Collins

Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Mystery Solved.

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