Perhaps It’s the Journey, Not the Destination?

They say you should enjoy the journey, maybe more than the destination, but in my opinion the journey would look a lot more interesting from the destination! There are moments of utter exultation when you think you've cracked it, only to be followed by weeks of plodding trial and error. Trial and error can't be avoided sometimes, even when you have a firm design in mind, in fact when you think about it our entire research and experimentation is one long series of trials and errors!

I have received many offers of help over many years, to try to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel, and a recent comment gave me cause to reflect upon my constant refusal to accept such offers, no matter how well-intentioned.   Why do I not wish to be “helped”?

A long time ago, before even the BW forum came into existence, a small group of us joined together to try to brainstorm a solution.  We were situated in different countries so could only converse by email, but it was fun and exciting but ultimately we hit a wall.  Too many different ideas and opinions clashing.  We went our separate ways although some are still in touch.

“Help” is a misleading word, conjuring up images of success, but usually it comes with ramifications.  Initially the offer is free, but no one in my opinion could accept such help without, for instance, acknowledging such help, if the “help” resulted in a successful design.  Such acknowledgement is the thin end of a wedge leading to confusion over who did what and who deserves credit, and in the end there is potential for continual dispute.  Best avoided.

On occasion I have received, uninvited, designs and plans for a PM device, fortunately the concepts are unworkable and can be easily dismissed, but what if they had been valid?  I used the word “fortunately” deliberately because I would prefer to avoid any confusion in case of a resulting working device.  My response to such offers has to be carefully written, in the words of the sign which used to hang behind the bar in English pubs, “don’t ask for credit, a refusal often offends”.  I usually recommend that they try to build a rough model themselves or find someone who can do it for them.

But in the end, I work alone, preferring to build my devices, altering them as I see fit, and covering a lot of ground on the way and owing nothing to anyone.  I suspect, although I don’t know it for certain, that most of us are the same.  Some seek fame and fortune, some merely acknowledgement and I know of some who just would wish to publish their success anonymously, but most work alone, even if they often visit the BW forum or even my little world of this blog.

I only work on building wheels, although I have try to get to grips with simulations and animations,  but I took no pleasure from such endeavors.  To design a sim requires a finished design whereas building to a design allows minor or even major alterations which can become obvious in an instance during the build.  In my own experience for instance, a mechanism might require a slight alteration in its angle of response which you can immediately understand once you see it in action and the required alteration can be made in a few minutes.

One thing I've noticed over the years, some people post pictures of their ongoing builds and I have to admit they are often beautiful creations, unlike my own which appear to be cobbled together out of old oft-used parts from a previous iteration; and that's precisely what they are.  But why spend so much times and effort to build something of such artistry before you know if it will work?  Of course if I should succeed in building a working Bessler wheel, I shall have to build a new one of greater attractiveness, and hide the prototype out of sight, or should I boldly display it in all its rough and ready informality?  

The build continues, albeit at a snails pace!

My granddaughter Amy is in a rehab clinic trying to recover from a series of diseases which suddenly afflicted her about eighteen months ago.  

They are CRPS, (chronic regional pain syndrome), FND (functional neurological disorder) and EDS. (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) .

Please share the following link and/or donate if you wish to aid my granddaughter's treatment.

https://www.gofundme.com/help-our-amy-to-walk-again

JC

Johann Bessler's Wheel and the Orffyreus Code

The Legend of Bessler's wheel.

  

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine.  For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine it.  Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, he devised a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.

After more than thirty years he died in poverty.  He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money and the buyer take the machine without verifying that it worked.  Those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble.

This problem was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. It is well-known that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that post humus acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.

I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 74).  I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

It has recently become clear that Bessler had knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications.  I have made considerable advances in deciphering one of his codes.  Due to unfortunate family circumstances I am currently struggling to find the time to complete the build I have undertaken but I shall return to it as soon as possible and I sincerely believe that 2019 will see the reconstruction of Bessler’s wheel.

Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog.  In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links.  It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?"  Bessler published three books; "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende..."

I have also published Bessler's collection of 141 drawings and I have called it Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to do so at some point.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit one of my web sites at www.theorffyreuscode.com

One last thing.  Perpetual Motion machines have been utterly proscribed and Johann Bessler’s claims ridiculed - however, it seems that more than a handful of scientists have now come to the conclusion that it might theoretically be possible to design a mechanical system which is continuously out-of-balance and therefore will turn continuously using the repeated fall of weights for energy.  Gravity but not directly.  These open-minded people remain tight lipped for now, awaiting proof of their hypothesis. 

And on another matter: 

My granddaughter Amy is in a rehab clinic trying to recover from a series of diseases which suddenly afflicted her about eighteen months ago.  They are CRPS, FND and EDS.  Sorry for the alphabet abbreviations but you can google them if you are curious.

Please share the following link and/or donate if you wish to aid my granddaughter's treatment.

www.helpamy.co.uk/

JC

50 years of Research into the Life of Johann Bessler.

Over the last few years I have acquired a fairly thick skin and I try to ignore the unflattering comments that are occasionally aimed in my direction.  Some recent suggestions about my character are disrespectful and I feel that I should try to set the record straight.

I've spent all my spare time over the last 50 years or so researching the legend of Bessler's wheel.  As a result of my research I self-published a biography of Bessler, Perpetual Motion, An Ancient Mystery Solved?

I also published four books authored by Bessler complete with translations into English, they are, Gruendlicher Bericht,  Apologia Poetica,  Das Triumphirende and Maschinen Tractate.  I don't know any German so I had to have the translations done for me.

I obtained a large amount of information over many years from English and German libraries consisting newspaper reports, letters and other documents. Still no German language skills, so more translation needed.

My first website went up in 1998 and I had to teach myself about computers and the internet and book publishing, I was an aircraft engineer back then and there wasn’t much call for computer literacy, nor internet savvy or self-publishing back in the 1990s.  

I've published several websites disclosing my findings on Bessler's codes etc, my ideas about how Bessler's wheel worked, kiiking, the remain of his windmill etc.

My intention then was to put as much information about the legend of Bessler’s wheel, out there as I possibly could.  Nothing’s changed and all I wanted then, as now, is for someone to succeed, me if possible, but anyone would do. I have already said that if I was to succeed, I don't wan't to patent it, I would just publish the whole thing freely so that no one could patent it.

I made a commitment to publish on a certain date which seemed achievable, but I failed to make it.  I’ve apologised and I gave my reasons.   I won’t be making any more commitments to do something on a certain date.  I don’t think I’ve broken any promises other than one I just mentioned.  This project has cost a lot of money and in no way has it financed holidays to Spain etc, and I utterly refute all the unpleasant comments and suggestions posted here lately.

JC

Johann Bessler the Showman.

When Johann Bessler discovered the secret of free, clean and simple energy generation, he didn’t concern himself with the ‘expert’s opinion that what he was claiming was impossible.  He knew instinctively if he could work out the correct arrangement of weights his wheel would spin.  He understood that the energy which made his wheels turn came from the weights, and they were made to fall and create an out of balance wheel by the action of gravity on them.  There was nothing magical about it, it was the natural heaviness of all things which had mass.  The heavier a weight was the more potential energy it had. 

When he found the right arrangement, the wheel began to rotate.  He had to stop it by force, which means that if he released it, it would begin to spin again, therefore it must have been permanently out of balance. Obviously to conserve the machine he fitted a brake so that it would not wear out its parts when not required to move.

It is not logical to suggest that he stopped it in a certain position so that it would begin to spin as soon as the brake was released.  There was no such position available, otherwise the wheel could not even begin to spin continuously and without permanent imbalance there would portions of each rotation which would present as slowing down and then speeding back up.  More than one witness remarked on the extremely steady and even rotation of the wheel.

We know that the wheel could be slowed down under load.  Early witnesses to the first wheel at Gera, were allowed to adjust the speed by means of a bolt which could be screwed in or out as desired, to apply a braking pressure.  We also know that the largest wheel, at Kassel, turned at 26 rpm, whenturning freely, but slowed to 20 rpm when lifting the box of bricks.  Again this is logical and not a negative factor, all machines tend to slow when under load.

I note that there are a few negative opinions expressed here about the potential of Bessler’s wheel.   No one can possibly know at this stage what potential there may be in this device, nor what other uses it may be adapted to.  We judge the potential power of Bessler’s wheel by the tests demonstrated over 300 years ago, but we cannot make accurate assumptions based on so little information.  Wolff suggested that the four times pulleys visible at the Merseburg test were needed to lift the box of stones, but we don’t know if that was necessary for the lift, or merely to slow it down for the witnesses.

That is just one example of the dangers of trying to assess the wheel’s potential from limited evidence.  That wheel turned at almost twice the speed of the Kassel wheel, although it was the same size but only just under a foot thick...why?  Did Bessler deliberately design it to turn slower?

The Merseburg wheel had an axle of just under six inches (5.6inches) and it turned at around 40 rpm although some reports indicated a speed of 50 rpm, perhaps when unloaded. A 5.6 inch axle has a circumference of 17.58 inches, so for a rope wrapped around the wheel it would travel 17.58 inches for each turn of the wheel.  40 turns would lift a weight more than 58 feet in one minute,  to the top of the Schloss Merseburg.

When Wolff visited Merseburg he commented on the pulley system and included it in his report,  suggesting that this might indicate that the wheel was not very powerful.  But there are a couple of  things to bear in mind about this report.

Firstly Wolff was on the brink of accepting an offer of a very senior position with the Czar of Russia, Peter the Great, and we know that the Czar was planning to buy Bessler’s wheel, and Wolff stated that he could improve the performance of the wheel if he were allowed to have access to it in his new position. So take his apparent dismissal of the wheel's power with a large pinch of salt.

Secondly, Bessler was the consummate showman and having noted Wolff’s comments about the pulleys he designed a wheel which moved more slowly but with the same amount of power.  I think Bessler added the pulleys at Merseburg, to slow down the lift because a one minute lift created its own problems.

For a start Bessler needed his brother down in the castle yard to load the chest of  bricks to the rope and shout when he was ready. Someone had to tell Bessler when to stop the wheel when the box reached the pulley, outside the window. Then he needed to reverse the lift back down to his brother and stop the wheel before it completely unravelled from the axle.  A second demonstration immediately could be arranged and repeated as often as wished, but how much better if he slowed the lift down fourfold. More time for each lift, more time for the witnesses to study the wheel in action, and fewer demonstrations necessary to show its lifting power without any loss in performance.

Also with  all the witnesses crowded into the machine room, watching Bessler, and peering out the windows to see the load going up and down, it must have been difficult to satisfy everyone present. No wonder he decided to make the wheel at Kassel turn more slowly. He did state that he could make wheels with different speeds and lifting capabilities and of various sizes.

One more thing; we note that the chest held about 70 lbs of stones.  Have you ever lifted 70lbs? The average hold luggage on an aircraft is about 50lbs, so 70lbs is probably more than sufficient to make the point.

JC