The weights on Bessler's wheel describe a path similar to the letter 'R'.

I noted a comment on the besslerwheel forum by jim_mich, while I was away in Spain, that I had at one time espoused a belief that the movement of the weights in Bessler's wheel followed the path shown in the avatar, I use on the forum, the Yin Yang symbol.  I used to think the weights moved on a path similar to the double curve which runs across the middle of the circle.  It's true that I did cherish this idea for a time and indeed I discussed it in my book 'Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved'.  But I came to the same conclusion that Jim did, that there was no way to incorporate such a design within any of the wheels I was working on, and I no longer subscribe to this idea and have not done so for some time because conflicting evidence appeared to suggest another design altogether.

People must be aware of other 'coded' information I have discussed and in particular the alphabetic substition of Bessler's name and his adoption of two extra forenames.  (see www.theorffyreuscode.com) He was born Elias Bessler and added the Johann Ernst at some point before he became famous, so that E. Bessler became JEE Bessler.  Given the alphabetic substitution to turn Bessler into Orffyre and thence to Orffyreus, I pointed out that JEE became WRR. 

Now I could understand the doubling of the letter 'E', given his (and mine!) obsession with the number five and 'E' being the fifth letter to give two fives - and I could also appreciate the inclusion of the 'W' in the subsequent alphabetic substitution, which also provided two fives in the form of double 'V' - but before the alphabetic substitutions of 'W' he had an apparently meaningless 'J' and after the alphabetic substitution he had an equally meaningless 'R'.  To what purpose could these two letters of doubtful value be attributed?

I assumed that he simply fancied the name Johann and with alphabetic substitution, the inital letter gave him the useful 'W', and the equally valuable 'E' gave him the 'R' and that, it seems to me must have been of equal importance since he incorporated it in every logo he signed all his letters with .  I reproduce two examples of the logo below so that you can see it.  I am convinced that the letter 'R' mimics the paths of the weights but it has to be interpreted correctly, which I believe I have done.  So there is your clue for today.

JC

It's five mechanisms, not four or eight.

I discussed the importance of the number 5 to Bessler, here last year (see my web sites at http://www.besslerswheel.com/  and http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/ )  In my opinion there is so much information to be had from Bessler's books that just stress the importance of this number that I fail to see how anyone can argue with the obvious fact that Bessler intended to convey something of importance to do with the number 5.  I am therefore astounded to be told from time to time that I have imagined all of it, or that I who has become obsessed wit it!  

The only thing we don't know for sure is why.  Well I do, but until I finish my wheel I cannot prove it, but I have worked out why it is necessary to have five mechanisms and why equal numbers of mechanisms won't work, at least not with this design.  

Fischer von Erlach described hearing the sound of 'about eight weights landing gently', etc.Why was he not sure about the number of weights he heard?  He was a widely respected and talented architect and engineer and seems to have tried to carry out a thorough examination of the wheel, yet he had some doubt about how many weights he could hear. 

Let us suppose that Bessler covered a weight in one mechanism with sound-deadening material - he mentioned that he used felt in an earlier wheel - so the other weights made a heavy knock as they landed, but the remaining weight made some kind of soft thud or perhaps it landed silently on a spring and made no noise at all. Did Erlach hear another sound but as it wasn't the same as the others, he attributed it to some other action and therefore concluded that there were about eight weights, whereas I argue that there were ten - five for each direction the wheel rotated.  The only suspicion he might have had was that there was a gap in the regular rhythm  of sounds he heard, but when you take into account the sounds he must have heard from the reversing mechanism which might not have been evenly synchronised with the forward moving ones you can see how he might have had doubts.

So guys, forget the eight weights or the four weights, it's five for each direction - and they operate in pairs.

JC

A belated expression of thanks to my first customers - and on with the show!

I've been looking for some old stamps for my grandaughter who has decided to start collecting them and I came across a huge bundle of envelopes I received from people all over the world when I first published my book. I have almost 400 stamps from so many different countries.

I'm amazed at how many I have and I think I should belatedly publish a word of thanks to all those people who took a chance on sending me a cheque to buy my book.  There was no PayPal nor anything similar back in 1997 and it must have seemed a risky purchase to send a cheque from one side of the world to the other.  The cheques themselves took six weeks to clear if they were in any denomination other than Pounds Sterling, which most of them were, but I couldn't leave people waiting all that time so I just sent the books and hoped the cheques would clear.  They all did and for that I'm extremely grateful.  

So I'd like to offer a belated thank you to all those people who risked a sum of money, with very little information about myself.  I guess we have grown older and wiser since then and are  much more aware and wary of internet scams than we were back then.  The internet was a new and exciting toy whose dangers most of us didn't fully appreciate.  Not only are we now much more clued up on the dangers of the internet but we are more cynical unfortunately.

My Spanish holiday gave me some much needed thinking time and I discovered some more information which has enabled me to produce a more accurate picture of the precise proportions of two parts of the mechanism.  I'm constantly amazed at the amount of information Bessler managed to secrete in various places under our eyes, without our noticing.  Anyway back to work, time marches on!

JC

300th anniversary approaching and no sign of success .... so far!

We're almost at the 300th anniversary of Johann Bessler's first exhibition - and I've a feeling it's going to be a bit a damp squib!  No sign of success either here or elsewhere although that may change very soon.  

I'm going away to Spain for a couple of weeks very early on Tuesday morning and I'll have to close the comments facility, but as soon as I get back it will be open again and I'll be back at work on my own wheel, unless of course someone has beaten me to the winning post and published their own working model!  I won't close the comments 'til Monday evening.

There have been a number of people who have said that they will have a working model by the 300th anniversary, myself among them, but I suspect that they won't materialise (mine won't).  My own work has gone well and I think that I have the right design if only roughly, and getting it perfect has proved more difficult than I anticipated.  But as I continue to build, adjust, build and adjust I learn more and more (about how to build a stationary wheel!).  I know that certain people will say I'm just fooling myself and my design will never work (I don't need to name you guys!) but I have something up my sleeve that may astound you once you know.

I'm taking a small computer with me in the hope of finding free wi-fi and I may post something if I can.

So good luck to all of you who are building or designing and I'll see you again soon.

JC