There are a small group of people wide spread around the world, who believe that Johann Bessler’s claim that he had invented a so-called Perpetual Motion machines was genuine. But most people’s first opinion is to dismiss such declarations with little further consideration, and it’s not surprising, given the current school of thought about such assertions.
Despite the certainty that the educational institutions have established in their curriculums, teaching the young and old alike that Johann Bessler was a fraud, there are a number of questions which are routinely dismissed or ignored, but which need to be properly examined in a fair and unbiased fashion to determine the truth about his machine. Why? Because those questions raise serious doubts about the consensus of opinion that any kind of machine such as Bessler’s was or is impossible
The inventor never gave up on his contention that his machine was genuine and he declared that if he was found to have been cheating then he should be executed for it. You might think that such an end was unlikely but actually several people making claims to take advantage of one or more members of the ruling class were indeed summarily executed by having their head chopped off.
Early on during his initial exhibitions, his claim to have invented and exhibited a perpetual motion machine caused a considerable amount of interest within certain court circles among the intellectuals who inhabited that elite society. Numerous letters between several witnesses who attended Bessler’s demonstrations sparked the interest of Gottfried Leibniz. He managed to arrange two private demonstrations where he was able to ask several questions and examine the wheel and its motion. He came to believe that here was a great invention which should not be lost because of the scepticism generally advanced in reaction to the demonstrations.
Following his advice and help, Bessler was ordered to bring his machine to the court of Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse. Karl had spent some considerable time funding the experiments of Denis Papin and subsequent to his departure for London, Karl agreed to provide Bessler with rooms to exhibit his new and larger machine. Of course Karl insisted on being allowed to confirm the inventor’s claims by examining the workings of the machine which he did. He concluded that the machine was genuine and remarkably simple. He was a man of tremendous prestige being held in high regard and had a reputation for honesty and sincerity throughout Europe. This coupled with his interest and knowledge of the latest discoveries in the world of science made him the ideal person to offer Bessler his patronage
Following Leibniz’s recommendations, Bessler developed a series of demonstrations which were designed to provide firm, convincing evidence that Bessler’s wheel was genuine. The most obvious one required a continuous run of around two weeks under lock and key and the Landgrave’s personal seal. A guard was also placed outside the room for the full period of the run, which was actually extended to 54 days in total.
Other measures designed to reduce the chance of fraud, included providing two alternate sets of pillars supporting the wheel, to enable the device to be moved from set to the other. This allowed the examiners to check both sets of bearings before and after translocation had taken place. Nothing suspicious was ever found. An Archimedes pump was attached to the wheel to demonstrate how it could pump water if needed. A chest of stones weighting 70 pounds was hoisted by the wheel from the castle yard to its roof and lowered many times.
Many have tried to find a way that Bessler might have faked the demonstrations, but no secret method has ever been found, and the truth is there for anyone capable of objective analysis to examine the evidence - to see if it was impossible to fake or impossible to be real!
Current research suggests that although a perpetual motion machine in an isolated system is impossible, where there is an external force field there must be a way to tap this force continuously for as long as that force exists. Bessler states very clearly that his machine relied completely on the action of some weights thus propounding the force of gravity.
This suggested solution is customarily dismissed because gravity is a force and not a source of energy. However thousands of waterwheels and hydroelectric power stations are enabled to work due to the force of gravity. The argument that a fallen weight has to be lifted once it’s fallen is used to dismiss Bessler’s wheel, but if Bessler managed to contrive a method which overcame that problem, then his machine was indeed the real deal. Obviously he must have succeeded so there is a potential solution to global warming with free, clean energy.
What are we waiting for!
JC
