Update - personal and impersonal

Had my hernia op last Saturday and I was released to go home the same day.  No heavy lifting for six weeks!  Funniest piece of advice I received was don't sign any legal document during the first 48 hours.  Apparently one's judgement can be seriously affected.  I had a slightly iffy reaction to either the anaesthetic or the morphine and kept having to be told to breathe!  Body temperature went down  34 degrees C, which is equivalent to 93.2 F.  Brought me this thing called a bear hug - brilliant!  Soon brought my temperature up to normal.

We will move out of this house in about two weeks and stay with my daughter until our new house is ready.  It's not really new, but we are getting an old one renovated and then things can return to normal, but until then no wheel work can be attempted, because I aint got anywhere to do it! Verification has turned into a collaboration for now, so I guess some will say it's failed but hang in there for bit longer, and all will be revealed.

I read many theories, mostly old ones rehashed on BW forum, and some which I know are so wrong, and yet you have admire people who keep on trying to get the answer.  Pet theories abound, and that name explains it all, "pet" theories - someone's favourite explanation, to many of us, seems completely bananas.

My own theories seem to me to be the epitome of logic and common sense, but they can't be if they don't work.  Doubtless if my work is not verified soon, once it's published there will be some who will dismiss it without the slightest consideration - but one thing I am confident about is this; when the work I've done on deciphering a large number of clues is published, it will provoke much discussion and I think that someone will take my work forward and succeed.

Once we are out of here and settled with my daughter I will try to entertain with more interesting topics for this blog, but until then there is so much to do, it leaves little time for writing.

My account of the clues I have discovered and solved is comng along and I cannot wait to share the amazing work that Bessler did in revealing so much information right there, under our eyes, without anyone suspecting that there was anything to see.  I guarantee you will be amazed.

JC

Weights and measures relating to Bessler's wheel; what to use and what to leave.

It is a curious fact that many people seem bent on designing and building their Bessler-wheels whilst labouring under the misapprehension that picking weights and measures relating to any one or more of the wheels, from a variety of sources without applying simple logic to the process, is sure to result in success.

Some insist that there were eight weights or eight mechanisms.  This figure arose from the report by Fischer von Erlac to J.T. Desaguliers, Sir isaac Newton's curator of experiments.  Doubtless the writer recorded accurately what he thought he heard and perhaps he was correct, but these figures applied to the mighty Kassel wheel, one that was able to turn in either direction. The problem as I see it is that this was a far more complicated wheel to build, as Bessler himself admitted. 

Why would anyone hoping to repeat Bessler's success begin with the most complex wheel ever built?  The logical starting point would be to try to copy his first wheel, or even the second one.  Each of these started spontaneously and only turned one way.

A lot of people have suggested that perhaps Bessler preloaded the wheel to make it start spontaneously as soon as the brake was released.  This is an example of picking and choosing what to believe and what to discard when considering Bessler's claims or the reports about his wheel and its performance.  If you believe Bessler's wheels were genuine, and you accept many of the things he said or were reported about the wheel, why would you then reject other parts of the record, simply because you don't believe it or you think it was a trick designed to impress a gullible audience.

Take his first wheel for example.  4.6 feet in diameter; thickness about 4 inches, speed unloaded 50 RPM.  Always began to rotate as soon as its brake was released.

Second wheel; 9.3 feet in diameter. thickness 6 inches; speed umloaded more than 50 RPM.  This one was mounted on a six inch axle.

Utterly different sizes yet output speed about the same.  The same speed might indicate a more powerful lift in the second one, but we don't know.  What we do know is that the third and fourth wheels were bi-directional and needed a gentle push to get them rotating, from which start they steadily accelerated.

It seems obvious to me at least that there must have been major differences between the two versions.  Not in the basic concept that enabled them to take advantage of gravity, but in their individual configurations, in which case it simply does not make sense to use the information about second type of wheel to make the earlier version.

I have suggested that the first thing that might have occurred to Bessler to prove that his wheels weren't clockwork driven, was to make them able to turn in either direction.  To me the logical first step would be to see what would happen if he mounted two wheels on the same axle, each designed to turn the opposite way.  I'm sure this is what he did.  I carried out a similar experiement myself but with two Savonius windmills mounted on the same vertical axle and the result was exactly similar to Bessler's experience.  The Savonius windmills spun im different directions when detached from each other, beginning to spin as soon as the wind from the fan hit them.  But when they were linked, they remained stationary; they needed a slight push and then they began to spin in which ever direction the push came from, but they were unable to achieve much more than half the speed they spun when separated.

So why try to build a dual direction wheel within one wheel when two opposing ones were used by Bessler.  Obviously this is just my opinion but I believe that this is correct.  The Kassel wheel rotated at 26 RPM, less than half the speed of the first two wheels, just as my Savonius windmills did.  But there is a fly in the ointment; the Merseberg wheel, his third one, was also dual directional but it achieved a speed of 40 RPM.  This demonstrates again that you cannot make any assumptions about the size and number of weights, even though we have Christian Wolff's estimate of four pounds for one weight, we have no idea how many there were.  We simply do know what differences formed part of each wheel.  

So keep it simple, try to build a one way wheel capable of turning up to 50 RPM, which starts to turn spontaneously as soon as it's brake is released.  Forget the number of weights which Fischer von Erlach is supposed to have heard, that was a different wheel with potentially a reversing set of weights making additional sounds. Recently I have seen ideas suggested which involved using eight weights to represent the eight planets supposed to have been known about in Bessler's time; it doesn't matter how many planets there are or were; it has nothing to do with Bessler's wheel.

We know that cross-bars, weights and pulleys were used in the wheels, because Bessler said so.  The presence of pulleys suggests rope or some other flexible material was present too.  He implied that there were springs although he didn't say so definitely, which to me says that some kind of spring was present but there are several different ways of using springs as well as many different kinds.

Finally, my own research suggests that Karl, the Landgrave who examined the interior of the Kassel wheel, was overly optimistic when he said that the interior was so simple a carpenter's boy could copy it if allowed a short time to study it. 

JC

Update - Verification Still Pending.

One of my hypothesis evaluations came back with a high approval rating but, as he put it, without a working model it's still so much hot air.  He was more convinced by the concept than the actual configuration, citing areas of conflict which he believed required further work, but which he thought could be overcome successfully.  That opinion was backed up by my second evaluator.  He has proved really useful, simulating the design on his computer and pointing out where deficiencies lie.  Even though I thought I'd covered everything there were still further clues to be deciphered but I've found them and interpreted them and revised the document and I think progress is being made.

These responses to my hypothesis make me glad that I got some feedback before publishing it.  I know that people will say 'publish it and let everyone do their own work on it', but the closer it is to the answer the less likely people are to reject it with out further consideration.

With the house move taking up so much time, any chance of getting back to work on my wheel is becoming vanishingly small.  The hypothesis document relates most of the design to specific clues I have deciphered and which  seem to be theoretically verifiable, but without the working model I am stumped hence the need for publication of my efforts and to let others try to build it.

The idea of publishing my findings is still uppermost in my mind but a book detailing everything is a strong possibility too, even if my current efforts don't lead to a working model, somewhere.  The book would obviously include the design as well, in order to relate the clues to specific parts of the design.  It's almost like duplicating the hypothesis document but in a lengthier form and would need to include all the textual clues as well. But if I include those pieces of text which relate to clues I have deciphered, how do I engage anyone not familiar with the legend of Bessler's wheel, if they are simply extracted from the original book, out of context? I don't know the answer so I will just publish what I have so far, once I have the final word from my other evaluator.

A simple question on BW forum reminded me of the importance of getting what any of us know, out into the wide world.  The queston is , " If Someone Discovered How To Do It, Would You Be Angry?"  This question or similar ones have arisen before and my answer is the same now as it was on the previous occasions - no.  Why would I be angry?  I'd be pleased because my efforts to inform the world of all things Bessler would see fruit and blossom.   

That someone else should succeed before me - or any of us - is obviously a daily possibility and therefore one I have considered many times over the years and my considered response has always been, good let's get these things out to the world at large so they can start doing some good. And that also applies to hesitating to publish what I know.  Why have I delayed for so long?  Obviously my priimary reason was to try to finish my own version of Bessler's wheel, but time is racing by - it does at my age as others will verify.  So as soon as I can I will ...................... publish!!

Things move slowly here.  Still in my old house; still haven't found a new one, although it is early in the year for people to put their houses up for sale.  So I must just wait.  We should be out of here in the next two or three weeks and living with one of my daughters and her husband and our youngest grandaughter plus Coco, the golden lab.   Then who knows?  Maybe we'll rent for a month or two in sunnier climes.

Next Saturday I have to go into hospital for a hernia operation, my second one.  My first was at age seven and this second one will be at age 71! No lifting for a couple of weeks afterwards so I don't know who is going to do all the work moving house!

JC

Update - My Hypothesis is being Evaluated.

Owing to the imminent (I hope!) house move, my work on my wheel has been suspended for now.  Maybe I will return to it once we have moved. In the mean time, I have at last finished the document I was writing, in which I lay out in detail my hypothesis about how Bessler's wheel worked.

If I had anticipated what would it would take to describe what was in the wheel and how it worked and which bits related to Bessler's clues, and how many drawings I have to make, well,  I might have gone with the simpler idea of a video of a working wheel.  But that has not materialised to date, possibly because I am wrong but also due to my limited manufacturing skills and equipment.  Yes I know, plenty of excuses for not producing the required evidence!  So now I have put my money where my mouth is, or something to that effect.

I have sent copies of the document to two people for whom I have the utmost trust and respect, and they are attempting to find something positive in my ramblings.  Actually I have tried not to ramble too much about the hypothesis, cutting it down to a minimum and eliminating unecessary verbiage, and yet the result is a document barely contained in 35 pages with 21 illustrations.

This has given me pause for thought, it's amazing that Bessler managed to hide so much information inside two publications?  Of course I suppose you could more than halve my document because much of it has to relate to Bessler's clues and my interpretation of them.  I suspect that chapter 55 of Apologia Poetica contains the text which describes how his wheel worked and perhaps once his wheel has been proved by someone, work will begin in earnest to wrest the information from Bessler's coded version.  

So now I wait, and the longer it takes the better, in my opinion.  I don't want to hear that they have dismissed my hypothesis too easily, but I'm open minded about the result.  When you have obssessed about something for as long as I have, it's hard to get an objective view of the picture.  A fresh pair of eyes will doubtless see through the mass of speculation and find the truth - positive or negative, I don't worry any more.  It has actually been something of a relief to at last share what I know and ultimately get some feedback.

I'm 71 next Friday, a good day for good news!

JC