Assuming a working model of Bessler’s wheel materialises very soon, apart from generating electricity, I’m always interested in other potential uses /benefits arising from the design. The world will be looking for ways to use it. We have discussed many times the potential for energy generation and there are as many doubters as proponents of the potential for useful electricity generation. For me it's simply a matter of scale; if you can produce a tiny amount of electricty from a small machine then a bigger one will produce more. How much bigger the wheel would have to be remains to be seen, but as I have often said, several wheels in series, on one axle obviously has a much larger capacity to produce multiple amounts of power than a single wheel.
There are other possibilities for its use. In third world dry climates there is the potential to pump water from wells, irrigation of crops, greening of deserts, air-conditioning and refrigeration units. In cold climates there are a number of ways to produce pwarmth into suitably insulated buildings. But what of the actual mechanical design, might it be adaptable for other mechanisms?I mentioned many years ago that because a working Bessler wheel would be changing linear motion into rotary motion, there could be potential for using the Bessler mechanism in a similar but alternative way, a reversal of the action. So a device which converts rotary motion into a linear one. I'm thinking of an inertial thruster but not a reactionless drive. So the mechanism is driven in reverse by, say, a small electric motor which rotates a disc with a weight on its circumference to produce a linear force on one side of the rotating mechanism. Such a device mounted on wheels should cause it to move in the direction of the force. It might even offer a space drive. Who knows if it would work, but logically if Bessler's wheel worked then so should this.Once the technique Bessler invented is known, better ways of achieving the same thing may well be invented and his design relegated to the history books, but that is progress and highly desirable.JC
I fear that just as soon as fusion reactors are perfected, no one will give a damn about Bessler's wheels as a power source. Assuming they are ever actually duplicated, they will probably then just wind up as science toys for kids or, as larger versions, attractions in science museums.
ReplyDeleteI don't think driving a one way Bessler wheel in reverse will magically create some sort of linear drive. All that will happen is that the torque of the overbalanced wheel will oppose the torque of whatever motor is trying to drive the wheel in reverse. Many have tried over the years to produce "reactionless drives" for cars, aircraft, and even spacecraft and none have ever been successful. If they worked they would have to violate Newton's 3rd Law of Motion. You cannot have a mass accelerating in one direction unless you have another mass accelerating in the opposite direction. Or, as they say, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".
Bessler's wheels, even while accelerating, did not violate Newton's 3rd Law of Motion. The reason is not obvious, but as one of his wheels began to accelerate, it would, through its vertical support beams' contact with a room's floor and ceiling, gently nudge the Earth to accelerate in the opposite rotational direction. Due to the enormous mass of the Earth compared to a wheel, that counter acceleration would have been insignificant and immeasurable. If a wheel was, however, mounted on a mobile base, then, as the wheel accelerated, it might cause the base and its supported wheel to begin moving. Should be an interesting experiment to try once we finally do if ever replicate a Bessler wheel. It could be done by placing a wheel and its support base on, say, the surface of an ice skating rink and seeing what happens as the wheel is allowed to accelerate. I wonder if this idea ever occurred to Bessler? He would have had to use the surface of a frozen lake though.