Maybe Bessler’s Wheel COULD Solve Global Warming.

Sir David Attenborough at COP24, Katowice, warns, 

“Civilisations are going to collapse and much of nature will be wiped out to extinction if humanity doesn't take urgent action on climate change.”

The warning came as Sir David took the "People's Seat" at the opening of the conference, as part of a UN initiative that aims to give normal people a voice at the international climate talks.

Sometimes it feels though I live on another  planet - maybe I do! I read and hear all the warnings about global warming and I think maybe we have something which might help to reduce it or at least bring the rise in temperature to a stop.  I know that the central aim of the Paris agreement was to strengthen and accelerate a global response effort in combatting the threat of climate change.  How did they intend to achieve this?

1) Keep global temperature rise “well below”, 2 degrees C, or 3.6 degrees F, above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

2) Pursue efforts to limit temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees C.

3) Limit green house gases emitted by human activity.

The rest is political nonsense; rich countries aiding poorer countries by providing “climate finance”; demanding contributions of at least 100 billion dollars towards upgrading their production facilities etc.  147 countries have ratified the agreement. The four biggest emitters of greenhouse gases - India, China, US and the European Union had signed up for it but the US has since changed its mind.

But even the biggest or the smallest emitters simply cannot comply with the agreement, so this is just so much hot air with little chance of achieving anything close.  The less developed areas of the world need their old fashioned technology before they can even contemplate spending more money than they can afford to update their industrial processes.

This website https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/  provides a good balanced view, even discussing the theory that the global warming might be caused by periodic increases in the sun's output. They offer a good argument against this being a factor in global warming, and although I admit I still subscribed to that view, their evidence is pretty convincing.

There IS a potential solution!  Bessler’s Wheel could eventually replace massive amounts of fossil burning technology.  147 countries ratified the Paris agreement, but in my opinion they can indeed talk the talk, but they simply can’t walk the walk, without knowing or finding some additional way of generating electricity (for instance) A brave aspiration but impractical without pre-industrial technology such as Bessler's wheel!

 JC

Today, 30th November,1745, Johann Bessler Fell to his Death.

Johann Bessler stood on the top of his latest project, a huge windmill designed to grind corn in the village of Fürstenberg. The windmill was of an unusual design, having a vertical axis which meant it could turn in the wind regardless of which direction the wind came from.

It was designed to be supported on a massive lower structure and although it was never finished it was expected to rise some 50 feet in height.  Unfortunately for Bessler, the committee who requisitioned the device insisted that it must be built on the lower levels of the hillside within the village itself.  This position was too sheltered according to Bessler and he argued that it should be positioned on top of the hill where it could take advantage of the winds which blew more strongly and consistently.  But the local authority insisted and Bessler complied.
 http://www.orffyreus.org/              see interior and exterior photos, and floor plan

Bessler was struggling to finance the build and despite frequent letters to the council leaders for more building materials, as well as additional funding, little help was forthcoming.  Some letters he wrote have survived and it clear from them that he was regarded as something of a nuisance and his employers were unwilling to put themselves out on his behalf.

On November 30th, 1745, Johann Bessler fell to his death from the top of the half-built windmill. We know that he and his family were starving and cold.  It was late in the year and the prospects of completing his windmill looked increasingly poor and even if he had managed to complete, his own opinion was that it might not have been as effective in the milder winds in the village.

I visited the small town of  Fürstenberg in2002 and was able to visit the windmill.  It has survived ‘til now because of the huge sandstone blocks used to construct the walls.  There is little if anything left, of Bessler’s work inside although the external features are obviously according to his design. Subsequent to his death the windmill was provided as a home for the new porcelain industry which had its beginnings then.  The town of  Fürstenberg became famous for the quality of its porcelain which it has been producing since 1747.
https://www.fuerstenberg-porzellan.com/info-en/english/manufactory/history/

We can gain some idea of Bessler's predicament through this short extract from a letter he wrote  to his superior just seven months before his death;

      "I have written often and many times to you, Highly Honourable Sire, but I have not received any answer.  Meanwhile, I lack strength and will, through hunger, grief, frost and chill, because for a long time I have not received a single piece of wood from the District Magistrate.  Indeed, I have often had only dry bread to eat and water to drink.  However, at last, thank God, I have had the good luck to finish preparing the model of perpetual motion which was commissioned from England, as demanded by the Senior District Magistrate, von Mannsberg.  It was ready at midnight on April 14th, "

Notice that he  had finished a model of his perpeual motion machine (italicised in the above quote).  The model was commissioned by his landlord, Baron Anton von Mansberg, a senior member of King George's cabinet and resident in London. Unfortunately any plans von Mannsberg might have had to examine Bessler's machine were doomed by the fact that all government officials were forbidden or strongly advised not travel to the continent.  This was during 1745 and for a couple of years after, due to the threat of invasion of England by France, on behalf of the Jacobite rebellion.  By the time that danger had passed Johann Bessler had died and his machine was lost to us.

I wonder what might have happened if the Jacobites had not prevented von Mansberg's return to his home and he had been able to carry out a thorough examination of Bessler's wheel.  He was a wealthy man and held a powerfu position within the government and he was also a member of the Royal Society.  If he had become convinced of Bessler's sincerity a deal might have been struck and a gradual spread of sales of the machine, similar to the way the use of Thomas Newcomen's engine spread, might nhave happened.  Newcomen'sengines sprouted out all over Great Britain and Europe and I could see something similar happening if Bessler's wheel had been sold.  A greater expansion than Newcomen's engine might have happened because of the complexity of the Newcomen engine when compared to Bessler's wheel.

Might not this have affected our modern lives in many ways? One thinks of pollution and global warming etc,. usually blamed on the burning of fossil fuels.

JC

Do We Really Need to Break the Laws of Physics?

It has often been suggested that in order for Bessler's wheel to work, the design must break the laws of physics.

Firstly, if we believe Bessler told the truth then we must seek the solution so that  we can reconstruct his wheel.  The prize for humanity is incalculable, reducing dependence  on fossil fuels, pollution from the burning of fossil fuels; provision of a free source of energy; warmth for cold climates, air conditioning for hot climates; irrigation for desert regions and reduction of transportation costs by land and sea, to name but a few.

Do we honestly believe that Bessler’s wheel worked in some mysterious way which somehow not only broke the established laws of physics, but did so with impunity?  The so-called “Laws”  are conclusions based on repeated scientific experiments and observation over many years which have become accepted universally within the scientific community.  We must accept that however unlikely it may seem, his wheel worked according to long established principles.

Just because our calculations appear to rule out any possibility of any of the laws of physics permitting such a device to work, does not mean that we have thought of every angle, point of view or approach that might resolve this apparent paradox.

But it is only a paradox if we continue to say that Bessler's wheel  cannot work because it would defy some physical law.  Obviously it didn't and we know it worked, therefore we are missing something.  What ever that something is, it is very simple and easy to understand, because Karl the Landgrave stated as much.

JC

1969 to Present - Where Has The Time Gone?

Aged about fifteen, I wandered into the school library one cold, damp afternoon, bored and looking for something interesting to read, not really expecting to find anything but always hopeful.  I found this dusty old book entitled ‘Oddities’, and leafed through it in a kind of disinterested way.  About a hour later I suddenly remembered where I was and what I should be doing!  I grabbed the book and headed out, having already decided that I must finish the book.

The book was by Lieutenant Rupert T. Gould, well-known for his books on unexplained facts.  He was also an expert restorer of marine chronometers, the most famous being those invented by John Harrison, the man who solved the problem of finding a ship’s longitudinal position at sea.  Harrison won the famous British Board of Longitude prize of £20,000 - the same amount of money sought by Johann Bessler for the secret of his perpetual motion machine.  The reward was offered by the British Government through the 1714 Longitude Act which was the first time the government used legislation to address a specific scientific problem.

Gould included an account of ‘The Wheel of Orffyreus’, which, since those long ago days, I have come to realise, is the best account of Bessler’s wheel, (up to my own, of course!)  My own research confirmed everything he wrote about, but of course, back in 1930, he did not have the tools for research that we have now. Gould described the accusations Bessler’s maid fabricated against him and it was in her description of how she was made to turn the wheel that I first saw a glimmer of light, which I latterly understood to be proof that she lied.  It was that tiny crack in the wall of professional scepticism by the members of the elite scientific, rich and powerful men of those days that allowed me to see an alternative to the narrative that had sealed Bessler’s fate and perpetuated the idea that he was a criminal.

That brief sudden moment of clarity engendered by the impossibility of the maid’s claims against Bessler remained with me for several years until I realised I would get no resolution to my concerns until I had either tried to build a perpetual motion machine myself, or tried to find out more about Johann Bessler.

The first research involved obtaining as much information as possible from the British Museum Library, including some of Bessler’s original publications and other documents referring or relating to him.  The immediate problem confronting me was that I had no German, neither the modern kind nor the 300 year old kind.  Unphased by this seemingly insurmountable problem at the naive age of about 24, I wrote a letter to a local paper requesting assistance of anyone prepared to translate some old German documents free of charge.  Amazingly I received offers of help from six or seven people.  I settled on one man, Mike Senior, who became a life long friend but who, sadly, passed away a couple of years ago.  He was an ex-school teacher who left because he complained the kids didn't want to learn.  He had degrees in 18th C German, classic Greek and Latin plus Astrophysics and Botany!  He was a regular contributer to various  scholarly magazines and had solutions to some of the most complex  puzzles particularly those of a mathematical nature. Everything of Bessler’s which I have published was translated by Mike, other than the notes accompanying Maschinen Tractate which accomplished by fellow researcher from the USA.

I would say that since the age of 24 I have been involved in Bessler research and as I will be 74, next year, that is approaching 50 years.  I have constructed countless models each built in the hope that it would spin continuously driven purely by the force of gravity causing the falling of weights inside the wheel. Have I ever felt like giving up?  No, never because I know Bessler succeeded and it is therefore possible.

The concept is simple and Karl the Landgrave was surprised no-one had thought of it before, so it s only a matter of time.  I would have thought 50 years was time enough!

It's only been during the last three or four years that I have begun to understand how he did it, but even then it has been a hard fought battle to find some of his clues and work them out, and correct the false first impressions I got. So far all those clues found and interpreted by many people do not seem to have any relevance to a solution and only time will tell if mine are any better.   So next year?  I've lost count of the times I've suggested that, but confidence is high!

JC