Johann Bessler, aka Orffyreus. His Codes - What Do They Mean?

I wrote this post in July 2013 and I thought I’d repost it because it seems little has changed.

This blog is sub-titled, "A blog about Johann Bessler and the Orffyreus Code and my efforts to decipher it", so it should come as no surprise if I occasionally actually discuss the codes I've been working on.  It has always puzzled me that few people discuss my efforts at decoding Bessler's works, other than an occasional mention in passing.  I assume that it is either because the codes reveal little of interest other than continual references to pentagons and the number 5 - or the argument I put forward in explaining the codes does not convince. 

Despite the lack of anything of substance being revealed, obviously Bessler thought that anyone interested enough to find just the clues I've decoded, would seek to use the information to look for the real information so clearly hidden in all of his books.  Just because I have failed so far does not mean that someone else might not succeed and I hope that there are those out there working at the puzzle in an attempt to tease out what it was Bessler wanted us to know.

On my chief decoding site at theorffyreuscode.com I have provided brief but logical descriptions of the codes I've fathomed, and they are only the ones where the proof of their existence is irrefutable. There are others which are more speculative and I am reluctant to detail them because of that very fact; they are hard to prove.

But the real question that absorbs me is what do these many references to fives and pentagons signify? I always believed that he meant that there were five mechanisms needed, but my own experiments and his comments about having just one crossbar hardly made the wheel turn at all, implies that five is not necessary although it could be the optimum number.

Considering my findings about chapter 55 in his Apologia Poetica,  which you can read at http://www.orffyreus.net/html/chapter_55.html you can see that this part obviously contains a coded message, and the reinforcements of this message, 55 verses  etc, confirm this.  The only drawing in Apologia Poetica, the Apologia wheel as it has become known, contains a pentagram above the words, 'do you still not understand?'  Surely this book but not this drawing is the place to start looking for an answer?  

What of Das Triumphirende?  There do not appear to be any mysterious Xs, nor blanks in place of certain words - but there are drawings full of mystery and intrigue.  And even his Maschinen Tractate contains at least one pentagram... where? In number 55 of course!  Also MT137 an apparently random drawing thrown in to confuse has as its basis,  not the pentagram, but the 'circle of fifth's, well-known in musical instruction but not so well, outside the profession.  I speculated that it was the 'circle of fifths', because that particular invention is attributed to Johann David Heinichen, who coincidentally lived in the same village as Bessler did, at the same time, when he (Heinichen) was an aspiring musician, composer and teacher, and Bessler was making church organs for the same people.  The circle of fifths is built up from a simple circle within a square and the resulting points are connected at every fifth point producing the dodecagram familar to both MT readers and musicians.

So here are all the firmly decoded clues available for all since at least 2009 and yet barely a single comment about any of it.  What puzzles me further is that  there are people still trying to build wheels based on the Apologia wheel which I've demonstrated is no such thing but merely a pointer to a pentagram.  

Others ask questions which they could easily find the answer to, if they only look, or they make  assumptions  based on inaccurate information which leads to utterly erroneous conclusions because they did not take the trouble to study the information both here and on the besslerwheel forums.

PS Since I wrote this particular post more than ten years ago I have made a lot of progress in deciphering Bessler’s many clues and I now know exactly how Bessler’s wheel worked.  I’m building a proof of principle wheel which I hope to finish before my 80th birthday, early next year. 

JC

Johann Bessler’s Use of the 24 and 26 Letter Alphabet

In Germany and elsewhere in Bessler’s day it was customary to use a 24 letter alphabet and it has always been assumed that Bessler too, stuck to that tradition, but there is evidence that he used both forms of the alphabet.

It is clear that he was familiar with an old Hebrew albam code as this was self evident in the way he obtained his pseudonym, Orffyreus.  This system was also used extensively throughout history and was also known as the Caesar shift, and in modern times ROT13. ROT13 is a simple letter substitution cipher that replaces a letter with the 13th letter after it.

The image below demonstrates how BESSLER became ORFFYRE, which he then Latinised to become ORFFYREUS as was customary in his day.

In the above image matching alphabetic substitution letters share similar colours. Notice that the 24 letter alphabet includes two alternative letters I or J, and U or V.  But you have to work on the assumption that the two alternatives pairs of letter each have to remain in their number position as above.  If you use a 26 letter alphabet you get the pseudonym ORFFLRE instead of  ORFFYRE. This appears to confirm that Bessler used the 24 letter alphabet.

But at the same time that he adopted the pseudonym ORFFYREUS, Bessler added two more forenames to his Christened names.  He was born Elias Bessler, but added Johann Ernst to the former ones. So his new initials went from EB to JEEB.  Why?

Taking into consideration his use of the Caesar shift for his new name, when applied to JEE reveals itself as WRR, whether you use 24 or 26 letter alphabets. To explain this further we need to examine another code system.

In addition to alphabetic substitution Bessler also used alphanumeric substitution where each letter is replaced with its corresponding position in the alphabet.  For example A=1, B=2, C=3 etc.  in this case JEE becomes 9/10, 5,5.  WRR becomes 21, 17, 17.

In his first illustration in his book DAS TRIUMPHIRENDE (DT),  which shows an image of his wheel, Bessler, numbered all the parts from 1 to 24. This seems to confirm a 24 letter alphabet, at first sight.  Further examination of the image reveals the twelve hours of a clock with the eight o’clock line labelled with two 8s.  The labelling seems over generous leading to the suspicion that a specific number is sought.  Adding them together gives the total of 660.  When 660 is divided by the twelve hours of the clock, the number 55 appears.

This number is repeatedly indicated by Bessler and of course we just met it for the first time when we looked at the alphanumerical JEEB.  The two Es are the fifth letter in the alphabet, but what is the relevance?

I searched for the meaning of the number 5 and 55 within his books and this led to the discovery of some pentagrams hidden within some of Bessler’s illustrations.  The reason we can be sure of these conclusions and future ones is because Bessler always provided two or three ways of getting to the same solution through different ciphers, codes and clues. The number 5 is embedded in numerous places, too many to list here, but clearly it was important to him to make us aware of it.

I’ll leave the significance of the pentagrams for now, my aim in this post is to show why I think Bessler used both 24 and 26 letter alphabets.

There are four illustrations included in DT, we saw that the first one included a hidden clock face, the next one shows the wheel attached to an Archimedes pump, see below.  This illustration is also over labelled.  The letters when converted to numerals and added together total 324.  The number of letters actually used is 18 as we shall see in a moment and 324 divided by 18 equals 18, the basic pentagonal number.  Every angle in the pentagram is either 18 or a multiple thereof. 

But there is a curious feature used within the above image.  There are three letters which appear to be ‘W’s but could also be 10’s - and in fact in the list which accompanies the image they are listed as ‘10’s which is strange because all the other labels are alphabetical. The letter ‘J’ is omitted and the letter ‘T’ is the last letter used and therefore U and V are absent leaving just the W/10.  In the above picture I red ringed the W/10s. Why would he appear to use the letter W to blend in with the other letters when he meant the number 10?  Why not use the letter J if he meant 10 anyway?

The number of letters used is 17 and T is the last letter used and is the 20th letter, but you can add the W and get the 18 you need. So yes, 324 divided by 18 gives 18.

 

Bessler omitted the U and V, by stopping at T.  And by the including the letter ‘I,’ as the 9th letter he reached 17 letters.  If he had included the J to get it to 18, it would have appeared to be the alternative letter to ‘I’, therefore not part of the count of all the letters used.  By calling the ‘W’ by the number 10, it enabled him to reach his desired total of 324, but also by making it appear as a W’ he could add it to reach his desired 18.

You would be forgiven for thinking this is far too complicated and fanciful but I can assure you that this method of providing clues to the importance of the pentagram and its associated numbers is repeated in each of his illustrations as I can prove.

Bessler was telling us that he used both alphabets sometimes and there is one excellent reason why he did this.

Remember his use of the Caesar shift for his new name, when applied to JEE reveals itself as WRR, whether you use 24 or 26 letter alphabets. Remember that in addition to alphabetic substitution Bessler also used alphanumeric substitution where each letter is replaced with its corresponding position in the alphabet.  For example A=1, B=2, C=3 etc.  in this case JEE becomes 9/10, 5,5.  WRR becomes 21, 17, 17.

If we change to the 26 letter alphabet a familiar piece of information is revealed JEE becomes 10, 5, 5, and WRR becomes 23, 18, 18. Why is this important? Due to Bessler’s insistence on the importance of the pentagram and the number 5 and its associated number 18, we must assume that his intention was to draw our attention to it.  

It’s not easy to see but a careful study of the logo at the top of this page shows the ‘O’ of Orffyreus which also represents his wheel is supported on either side by the letter ‘R’ which means that the number 18, or the pentagram supports the wheel.  Notice also that the wording works in either direction just as his wheels did. RATH on the left side is written backwards.  It reads ‘RATH ORFFYRE’, Councillor Orffyre, his title when under the patronage of Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel.

Summary

At first sight there are most of the letters of the 24 letter alphabet present except both U and V are missing and J is also missing, although it’s atbash version is there masquerading as a ‘W’, but representing the number 10.  ‘i,’ is also present, representing the number 9.

In my opinion Bessler was telling us that he used both versions of the alphanumeric alphabet as well as the atbash cipher.

He used the name Johann to gain the J, this gave him the atbash version ‘W’.  Why was this significant?  He used the double V or interlocking Vs, to give in Roman numerals (which he also used frequently) two 5’s again.  There are other reasons which I won’t go into now for the need to show the letter W.

Of course he could have used the letter ‘I’, and used for example Ivan for his first name, but he needed the W and both ‘I’ and ‘J’ link to ‘W’, but in the 26 letter alphabet it is J that is the alphanumeric version which is needed, not I.

The letter R mimics part of the action in his wheel, as does the letter W. The ‘W’ as double ‘V’ represents the so-called ‘cross-bar’  but actually means the ‘cross’ or scissors mechanism.

Just to be clear there were five mechanisms in the early wheels.  Each mechanism had one weighted lever.  Each weighted lever worked with an adjacent weighted lever. Hence the obsession with the number FIVE, the pentagram, and its various angles all multiples of 18.

PS All of the above information has been posted in my blog over the last ten years but little notice is taken because almost everyone dismisses the idea that there were five mechanism required.  The reason for five mechanisms is simple.  With Bessler’s particular configuration he could get five mechanisms in the wheel which ensured a smooth rotation with no hesitation in each action.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Amazing Gravity Enabled Non-Stop Wheel.

Many people who are aware of the story about Johann Bessler and his extraordinary Perpetual Motion machine are familiar with his pseudonym, Orffyreus and how he arrived at the name.  But why did he decide to use a pseudonym?  What was his purpose in using one when everyone knew his real name?  The reason is simple once you know.

When he had worked out how to build a gravity-enabled perpetual motion machine he began construction and built his first working model.  He hoped to sell the secret to a rich prince for a lot of money, but there was a real problem to overcome first.  He had found the secret to making this device but realised the difficulty he was going to encounter in substantiating his claims without revealing the secret of its construction. How was he to convince would-be purchasers of his machine that it was genuine?  If he allowed anyone to see the interior and understand how it worked, what was to stop them just walking away and making their own version of his mechanical marvel?

Word about his machine quickly spread and people came to study it and examine the external features but no one was allowed to view the interior.  The inventor moved from town to town gradually moving closer to the busier places and as his fame grew people of high rank came to examine the device.

Gottfried Leibniz, the famous scientist, came to see the wheel on two occasions spending a couple of hours on each occasion and although he dismissed Perpetual Motion as a legitimate possibility he recognised that Bessler’s wheel had something of value about it and recommended that it should not be ignored for fear of losing it.

He and Bessler discussed the problem of proving its legitimacy without revealing the interior workings of the wheel.  Leibniz suggested that it would be helpful if he could find a patron who had the kind of secure facilities to allow Bessler to exhibit his machine for official examinations and tests.  It would also help if this patron had a reputation for absolute honesty.

They discussed a number of features Bessler could include which would be very difficult to achieve if the machine was a fake.  These were present at all the demonstrations.  They included two separate fixtures to which the wheel was attached, to allow the examiners to thoroughly examine all external aspects of the wheel, moving it from one set to the other as often as was requested.  An Archimedes pump was attached to the wheel axle and a 70 pound weight was shown being lifted several feet up and down the castle walls. A 54 day test was carried out under lock and key and 24 hour guard to prove no winding up was necessary.

These actions were carried out on several occasions during Bessler’s residency at Hesse Kassel for around ten years.  No sign of fraud was ever found and it seems that there were approaches made to purchase the device.  But they failed due to the inventor’s insistence that the money be paid in full before the purchaser could ascertain to his own satisfaction that the machine was genuine. This, despite the fact that Bessler swore on oath that if he was found to have cheated he should have his head chopped off!  Not an unlikely outcome in those days.

Johann Bessler was driven by a determination to be acknowledged as the original inventor of the gravity-enabled perpetual motion machine, but from the very beginning he seems to have realised that his chief difficulty lay in proving that he was not cheating.  This seeming impasse convinced him to encode the information required to understand and build a replica of his machine and embed the information in a book he planned to publish.  Ideally he wished to sell the secret and the machine for a large sum of money but in order to do that he had ensure that the strict terms of the purchase were clear, above board and adhered to.  

Given the above it’s not too surprising that he wrote that he’d rather die than give away the secret for free. But that plan might have had to modified later in life, but we will never know because he died early aged just 64, when he fell from the top of windmill he was building for the local town council of Fürstenberg not far from his home in Karlshafen. So all we know is that the encoded information lies embedded within the three books he eventually published.

He left strong hints that the information was there and could be found and understood if people searched for it. I have written about this on my previous blogs and provided links to my web sites in which I describe many of codes and ciphers I have found and deciphered. They can be found in the lower end of the panel on the right of this blog.

Over the years I have gathered a lot of information about the wheel and how it worked.  But even given the extraordinary number of clues in both text and drawing, it has been an almost impossible task to draw together all of the clues and pieces of deciphered text.  I think I have got it now and even after all this time, my whole life, I’m not one hundred per cent certain that I’ve got it right, but one thing I do know.  I understand the principle completely and it works.

The following link will take you to the books, including my own biography as well as all Bessler’s publications which each contain a full English translation.

https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/p/johann-besslers-books-and-biography.html

JC

Johann Bessler’s Purpose - to leave us his Free Energy Machine.

Johann Bessler, aka Orffyreus spent more than ten years trying to design and build a perpetual motion machine.  He had the skills to succeed if he could only find the secret.  After several years of toil and experimentation he woke up one morning with an image of the right design in his minds eye.  He instantly knew his design was the right one and he had succeeded.  He went on to build the first model.

He was careful to hide the internal design from spectators because he had planned to sell the secret for a large sum of money.  This made it difficult to prove his machine was genuine and yet he couldn’t let anyone see how it worked.  It was witnessed and examined by many people but he needed to design and incorporate tests which would prove that his machine was genuine, so over the next ten years he built a succession of bigger and more impressive devices, finally producing his largest one. 

They all took the form of a wheel suspended on small steel bearings fitted into two wooden pillars.  He was contacted by the great scientists Gottfried Leibniz who examined the exterior view of one of the wheels and even though he dismissed the possibility of a perpetual motion device, he concluded that “there was something remarkable about the device and it should not be allowed to be buried and lost”.  He advised Bessler on various tests, all of which were incorporated in all his later examinations.

The tests involved lifting a heavy box weight 70 pounds up and down the outside of Hesse Kassel castle.  Providing a second set of bearings and pillars a few feet away from the first set, so that the wheel could moved between the two sets according to the examiners wishes.  This was so that the examiners could thoroughly inspect both sets of bearings before and after as well as during each trial run.  Another test involved an Archimedes pump attached the wheel’s axle to pump water out of large wooden chest.  Bessler also added a unique demonstration by designing his last two wheels with the ability to turn in either direction as desired by the examiners.

The final test was an endurance test.  The wheel was locked in a room and started.  The rooms in either side, above and below were thoroughly examined and found free of suspicion. A 24 hour guard was placed outside the door which was locked and sealed with the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel’s personal seal. He then left along with a number of courtiers and did not return until 54 days had passed.  Upon opening the door, the wheel was found to be spinning as before.

Karl, the Landgrave, had already seen the interior of the wheel and agreed to keep his knowledge secret until the inventor had received payment for the invention.  He had insisted on seeing the interior to confirm the inventor’s claims were real, before offering him his patronage.  Karl was highly regarded as a man of unparalleled honesty, negotiating as an honest broker between the warring nations in Europe.  He would not countenance the possibility of being involved in fraud.

Karl’s personal approval, is convincing; as is Leibniz’s opinion of the invention. The strictly organised tests would be difficult to mimic today using only the technology available more than 300 years ago.  

Finally, Bessler was determined not to give away the design without receiving payment.  He said he would rather die than do that. He did however, provide several strong hints that he had provided the necessary information within the books he had published.  Those books are available with English translations from the panel on the right, or click on the link below.

https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/p/johann-besslers-books-and-biography.html

I have published other websites which describe some if the clues and codes I have deciphered. See the links in the right panel.

JC

My Poems - Written During the Long Years of Research into Bessler’s Life

I’m certainly no poet, but having written several over the years, I decided to post them all here in one go! My apologies for the quality, but I enjoy trying to put down ideas with the occasional light touch of humour.  This is by no means all I’ve written and I’ll probably put down some more.

One more thing, if you would like to obtain copies of my biography about Bessler, plus four books by him, with full English translations please click on this link.

https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/p/johann-besslers-books-and-biography.html

For an excellent discussion forum for all things relating to Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus visit 

https://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/index.php?

I

All these poems have a theme,  but firstly let me set the scene.

When I was young I read a story that filled my head with dreams of glory.

Johann Bessler’s sole intent, a non-stop wheel he would invent.

Triumphant after toil untold, he sought to sell it for silver and gold.

People came to see the wheel, witnessing that it was real.

Though offers came from men of wealth, they did not buy because they felt 

the terms of sale were too unfair, they left with nought but empty air.

The cash must be upon the table before the buyer was even able

To study the inside of the wheel  and it’s secret at last reveal.

Perpetual Motion was proscribed, a possibility denied.

Yet Bessler proved it possible to make a wheel unstoppable

It was the first, no precedent, turned non-stop ‘twas self-evident,

Witnessed by the man from Hesse, unimpeachable - nothing less.

He saw the inside of the wheel, he understood, said it was real.

Somehow Helmholtz got it wrong, and so I’ve spent a lifetime long

Looking for the hidden secret, but where did Johann Bessler keep it?

II

My first poem about Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus

This Ancient Mystery, I have sought, for many years, to solve and thought

The secret of the wheel's construction lay beyond mere skilled deduction.

So I brought the world's attention to this greatest missed invention. 

Hoped some rare ability'd retrieve this fair facility.

Yet scarcely had the thought occurred before I realised how absurd

It was that I should have the notion I could solve Perpetual Motion

This Ancient Mystery's merely myth, credited by those whose kith

And kin forgot what they had learned, that energy spent must first be earned.

Despite this fact there was some doubt - did Bessler find a way about

This obstacle to energy, and find a force that's pure and free? 

Long ago my doubts were dashed, for certain inspiration flashed, 

The energy whose source I sought was all around - its cost was naught.

And wherein lies this bold solution that will solve the world's pollution?

The answer lies in Gravity, a field of energy that's free.

Conservative - its attitude to work is that its magnitude

Remains the same. It does not stop. It's constant and it makes things drop.

It’s said that this is contrary to what we think is verity, 

Gravity cannot be used and those who think so are confused.

It matters not who's right or wrong - the clues have been there all along.

Bessler wrote in ciphers rare and paranoid, he did not dare

Reveal a clue - changed his ambition - sought posthumous recognition.

Text and image, cryptic instruction, showing us complete construction. 

His secret solved will be the key to giving us free energy.

If you believe this can't be true, suspend your judgement - see if you

Can find a fault in what you read about the proof, with which I plead. 

 My aim is clear, intent is strong, to show that Bessler has been wronged.

III

Another More Poems

Perpetual motion?  It’s a lie

That’s what they taught us, so don’t  try

To understand, how Bessler found 

A way to make his wheels spin round.

But if that’s true then he’s a fraud,

The evidence we have is flawed,

But there are things that don’t add up

Things which tell us don’t give up.

You see I think that Bessler’s wheel

Was not a fake, no, it was real.

He said the motion came from weights 

But I think this misstates the case.

Deftly he abbreviated

Clues that each weight gravitated

Falling down then shooting higher

Each weight moving like a flyer.

The clues are there before our eyes

The mechanisms come alive,

Each one connects to the one next door

One goes up and one to the floor.

The evidence is very strong

Bessler’s claims cannot be wrong.

It’s just because we do not know

Exactly how he made it go.

They still say its impossible

To make a wheel unstoppable

But Bessler did and so can we

It might be you, or maybe me?

IV

I was callow and thin of skin,

when first I found Orffyreus' spin;

the poisonous barbs of jeers and sneers

aimed at me by my erstwhile peers

did not a jot of difference make,

to my intention to forsake

those oft repeated laws of old

that we were vehemently sold - 

immutable and set in stone.

I, ignorant, set out alone

to prove those falsehoods once proposed,

accepted almost unopposed,

weaved in argument assumptive,

circular and quite presumptive,

conclusions made were not conclusive

and some agreed were too inclusive. 

For 60 years I've sought success,

wanting more than just a guess.

Helmholtz said non-stop rotation,

driven just by weights in motion,

had never ever been achieved,

and not by Bessler, who deceived.

The words of many witnesses

dismissed as so much witlessness,

by Helmholtz, who said that he had proved

no weight-driven wheel had ever moved   

without the aid of trickery,

chicanery and quackery.

Addressing such a case as this

a court of law might well dismiss

on grounds of lack of evidence

when set against such testaments, 

given by those who saw the wheel.

Concluding that his claims were real

required a leap of faith to prove,

that gravity wheels could never move.

V

Three hundred years ago, he saw

the conservation of energy law,

which had previously prevented

every thing that he'd invented,

such as wheels that turned forever

driven just by weight and lever, 

finally be circumvented.

The so-called experts who declared

that such devices are absurd,

proscribed their source as gravitation,

nor anything else in isolation,

and denied perpetual motion 

could still be a valid notion.

But given the ubiquity

of the earth's force, gravity,

how blind they are to evidence

that Bessler's wheel was common sense.

Gravity is not exclusive

permeating and diffusive,

it affects all in its compass, 

supplying weight and moving mass;

with the right configuration

it supplies from gravitation

wheels which turn continuously, 

simply driven by gravity.

Those scientists who vent their spleen,

who criticise us and demean

our strong belief that such machines

do not turn in isolation

but draw their strength from gravitation..........

are wrong!

VI

When I first read about Bessler’s Wheel

I wondered if it could have been real.

I put the question to the teacher

Who said my question was a feature 

Of lazy people who’s attitude 

Demonstrated their ineptitude

To understanding what they were taught.

But his response I never bought.

I never could accept the logic

Which denied the force gravitic

Which endlessly maintained its presence 

It always seemed just common sense

To find a way to tap this source

And put to use its driving force

That makes things heavy and makes things fall.

They say it’s not a source at all,

But we can use the way things drop

To make a wheel rotate non-stop

We need a mutual exchangement

Within two gravitised rearrangements .

One weight works in each division,

Five divisions to aid transmission

Work together to make the wheel turn

Why five and not four, eight or six?

 Five is the most that really fits.

Using the right configuration.

VII

A Circle of Fifths.

My apologies for this poem, for over-egging the importance of the number 5, but it was clearly of immense importance to Johann Bessler but for reasons unknown, it seems we ignore it at our peril, well not peril but surely we should be using his own strongest clues to replicate his machine!

Bessler embedded the number five

In his name so we’d realise 

How vital five is to nonstop drive.

If we ignore how Bessler strived

To make us value number five

We will always fail to derive

A spinning wheel with endless drive

Unless we follow his advice

To make our wheels have space for five

Equal compartments just for five

Single weights to number five

It’s obvious that we should try

Configurations based on five.

The reason for the need for five

is simple once you realise

The regular and even drive

Needs no pauses to come alive.

Bessler fitted full mechanisms five.

Fewer than five will cause a dive 

In the speed and it won’t revive.

The most of them he could contrive

To fit inside the wheel was five

All  the space was needed to thrive.

Any pause in action denied,

Giving the eveness described 

By countless witnesses advised.

All hesitation is denied

To make this non-stop wheel thrive.

John Collins ©️ 2024