Why Did Bessler Add the Name Johann to His Forenames?

One of Bessler’s clues which may have slipped past our attention is this one, it begs the question, why did he add the name Johann?

We are familiar with his use of the atbash code, the Caesar shift and the RoT13 code, and his addition of an extra two initials J and E to his original E for Elias Bessler.

He adopted his pseudonym, Orffyreus, by using the RoT13 code, which was a well-known code system in his time.  I think he knew this and expected those people who were curious would search for other clues within his published works, just as we have.

His use of a variety of codes included - alphanumerics, Caesar shift, chronograms (a sentence containing certain letters which can be interpreted as Roman Numerals and stand for a number when rearranged.) Steganography (the practice of hiding information within a different media such as embedding it invisibly within a drawing) - plus a few of his own invention.

I asked the question, why did he add the name Johann? He had already got two E’s to give two 5s, alphanumerically; then from the E to the R via the Caesar shift; and to 18 from R again, alphanumerically.  These all fit in perfectly to confirm the pentagram.  So why did he think it necessary to add the J.

J is the tenth letter alphanumerically, or W by the Caesar shift.  W is the 23rd letter.   I can’t think of a convincing reason for the number 23, so its purpose may be the fact that the W is composed of two  Vs.  But we already have two 5s, but the W which does however, provides two linked Vs. This might reflect Bessler’s statement that the weights worked in pairs

His use of the W was definitely an important clues and conceived as a clue right back in the beginning when he adopted the name Orffyreus,  

His initials after his forename additions were JEEB, and after the RoT13 change became WRRO. 

 But when converted to Roman numerals, before the addition, JEEB in Roman numerals 10, 5,5,2,, which then becomes XVVII.  If we stick with his chosen pseudonym, Orffyreus, then XVVO is the interesting result.

So we have a W which is composed of two linked Vs.

But there’s more.  Throughout his Apologia Poetica Bessler inserts numerous examples of rhyming couplets containing three Capital letters being the three initials of his ‘enemies’, Wagner, Gartner and Borlach - W,G and B.

 

Although the W looks a little like part of a scissor mechanism, I think its primary purpose is to confirm the linkage between each V.  Each V shows the action of a single lever, but indicates it’s starting and finishing points.  

In MT there are several examples of the letter A, some with a straight cross bar and others with a bent one, see the image below.

The letter A shown above might be part of scissor mechanism….or the two arms of the letter V?  I hope this post provides some interesting thoughts

Curiously the picture in DT showing the Weinstein wheel attached to an Archimedes pump, has three items labelled in a confusing way. For a start each part is labelled with a letter, running from the letter ‘a’ to the letter  ‘t’.  For some reason the letter ‘j’ is missing. The last letter listed is ‘t’.   But … there is what appears to be three items labelled with a W. Further examination of the letter W in this case, suggests it might actually be the number 10!  The missing ‘j’.

Back again soon.

JC