Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus Showed Us His Secret.

I often repeat myself when I believe useful information that I’ve posted seems to be ignored. This stuff comes direct from Johann Bessler’s brain via his books and in my opinion it’s too important to ignore.  Bear in mind, Bessler told us he’d rather die than give away the details about his wheel.  Also there several hints about how his machine worked and where the information was hidden.  Assuming his claims were genuine how can anyone ignore this information?

I copied the following piece from a post I made on 14 September 2011, some 14 years ago!  I've hardly changed my opinion on my interpretation on the quote. I’ve repeated this information many times but still no one takes any notice.

“He will be called a great craftsman, 

who can easily/lightly throw a heavy thing high, 

 if one pound falls a quarter, 

it shoots four pounds, four quarters high.”

Firstly, the most obvious point is that if one pound falls a quarter and lifts another four pounds then we have a total of five pounds and those who are familiar with my work in decoding Bessler’s clues will at once recognise the presence of the ubiquitous number 5 again - which I have suggested refers to five mechanisms. 

Secondly, he tells us that there are five one pound weights (one plus four), but one of them is falling. Since one of the falling weights is one pound and the other four being lifted are also one pound each, all five of them are of equal mass - one pound each..”

I then erred and assumed there were ten weights, five pairs because of this next quote :-

 “... a work of this kind of craftsmanship has, as its basis of motion, many separate pieces of lead. These come in pairs, such that, as one of them takes up an outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changing places all the time.” 

But I was wrong.  My current interpretation has changed a little from my early post. It goes like this:-

In the above quote the five weights operate in pairs.  As one falls it lifts the previous weight by means of a cord which passes around two pulleys.

But if  "..it shoots four pounds, four quarters high,” then you might think that either, one of the pounds is shot one quarter high, which is no big deal from a similar weight falling the same distance, or one pound shoots the other four pounds a quarter high, which is frankly impossible.

So one pound falls a quarter.  How do we define what he meant by a quarter? In this case he was referring to a clock - something he also included in the first drawings in both Grundlicher Bericht and Das Triumphirende  - it was embedded invisibly but it was easy to find and was an essential ingredient in deciphering other clues within the drawing.  A quarter of an hour or fifteen minutes covers 90 degrees.  But how could this single right angle fall cause “ four pounds to shoot upwards four quarters”? 

We saw in the first part that the word ‘quarter', referred to, not just 90 degrees but also to a clock.  In the second part the word ‘quarter' also refers to a clock but this time he has confused us by using the words ‘four quarters’. Four quarters equals one whole hour.  Each hour on a clock is divided into 30 degrees, so the words ‘four quarters’ meaning ‘one hour’ as used here equals thirty degrees.  To paraphrase Bessler’s words, “a great craftsman would be he who, as one pound falls 90 degrees, causes each of the other four pounds to shoot upwards 30 degrees.”  

It should be also be remembered that when the bi-directional Kassel wheel was started from a stand still it required only the smallest of pushes from two fingers for it to begin to accelerate, BUT it was also reported that rotation did not begin until a single weight was heard to fall, hence the phrase "...if one pound falls..." , meaning that it only takes one pound weight to fall for the whole wheel to begin to rotate and therefore cause the other weights to move.

This happened very quickly and this quick reaction has puzzled many people.  This is easily explained.  When the fallen weight, in its slightly advantageous position, fell, it lifted the previous fallen weight which had arrived at a disadvantageous point and was negating the small mechanical advantage of the falling weight.  Lifting the fallen weight just enough to neutralise any disadvantage gave the wheel in effect, two mechanical advantages simultaneously.

The energy gained comes from the falling weight, but energy expended to lift the fallen weight, is less because it doesn’t need to be lifted 90 degrees, it needs a lift of just 30 degrees. 

I should also add that a graphic of  the 30 degree lift is embedded in one of the drawings, but the clues have to recognised correctly and interpreted.  Having said that the method is ingenious and the result is unarguably correct.

As I said at the beginning of this post, people continue to ignore the evidence and are still struggling to work out how one pound could possibly lift four pounds.  

JC