Johann Bessler’s First Public Exhibition was on 6th June, 1712

A comment on this blog inspired me to follow his suggestion that we should call this day, 6th June,  “Bessler Day”. 

On the sixth day of June 2023 it was 311 years since the famous inventor, Johann Bessler, also known by his strange pseudonym, Orffyreus, first set up his Perpetual Motion machine in the small village of Gera, in Germany, in order to exhibit his amazing machine.  He desired to sell his machine and sought the patronage of a wealthy and respected member of the nobility.  

He eventually accepted the offer of a place to exhibit his machine plus a position as Commercial Councillor at the castle of Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse.  Karl was a highly respected and knowledgable patron of scientific experimentation.  He had spent several years prior to Bessler’s arrival funding the experiments of Denis Papin.

Bessler attracted a huge amount of interest but failed to sell his machine due to his awkward terms of sale - there was distrust on both sides, despite Karl’s assurance that he had been able to inspect the inner workings of them machine, and stated that it was genuine. The inventor died without having sold his device when he fell from a windmill he was building.  Like many if his ideas it was designed to take advantage of the wind from what ever direction it came.

He never withdrew his claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine and continued to devise new uses for it, such as draining water from mines, a continuously playing carillon, a submarine, fountains for pleasure gardens etc.

The evidence that his machine was genuine is convincing.  He left a number of clues, hints and illustrations which contain enough evidence to work out how his machine worked.  It’s all there before our eyes and has been for more than three hundred years.

At the moment I expect less that 99.999 per cent of planet earth’s population have ever heard of him, but I confidently anticipate that that figure will drop dramatically upon release of the solution to his machine to the world at large. His name will become famous, his story will appear in countless languages and people from all around the world will discover the benefits of free, clean electricity. People will want to celebrate Johann Bessler’s work on Bessler Day for discovering and building the world’s first free, clean, energy continuously rotating electricity generator - hopefully a way of mitigating the effects of climate change.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Maschinen Tractate

When Bessler, aka Orffyreus, died his after-death inventory included many papers stored in a box along with several wood ink blocks.  Among those papers was a collection of printed sheets which numbered about 141.  They consisted of a number of illustrations detailing examples of attempted perpetual motion machines.  None of these would have worked but some were accompanied by brief notes. The author hints that he will reveal more later in the sequence of pages.  Many are convinced that the drawings contain codes which when deciphered it is hoped, would lead to the solution to his own perpetual motion machine.

It has always been my contention that the papers were never intended to be published.  I think that they were simply oexecuted prints designed for use by his intended apprentices at his planned school once he had obtained sufficient funds from the sale of his PM machine. I named the collection of pages ‘Maschinen Tractate’, (MT) in error thinking that a book he offered to the Tzar of Russia, Peter the Great, which he described similarly was what was in the box. Later I realised that the Tzar’s book was to contain details of all the agricultural and industrial machinery that Bessler had learned about during his early years.

I envisage a class of young apprentices of around fifteen years of age, numbering a dozen or so.  For each class Bessler would print off a dozen sheets from his box and hand them out for discussion and study. He included some of his minor ciphers but I believe they were there to test his pupils powers of observation and to introduce new ideas and some humour into their classroom discussion. 

The last illustration that seemed intended as part of the series appears to be MT136; MT137 was in my opinion added later but still intended for discussion because it mimicked  Bessler’s acquaintance, David Heinichen’s ‘circle of fifths’. This would be a good subject for class discussion particularly because it drew a link between music and the golden mean. 

After MT137 there followed a single page numbered 138,139,140 and 141. I coined the name the ‘Toys Page’, (TP) for convenience and because I didn’t want people to refer to it as MT138 without the other numbers as I thought it might lead to confusion. I used the word ‘Toys’ because Bessler used the word in a note on that page.

I think that Bessler had already designed and printed this page for discussion in his classroom, but added the note later, possibly for benefit of those who came after.

In summary then I think there is little to learn from MT, which is not available elsewhere, but the Toys page does offer lmore information from a different angle, which I found useful.

On the first page of the MT, Bessler wrote, 

“ N.B. 1st May, 1733. Due to the arrest, I burned and buried all papers that prove the possibility. However, I have left all demonstrations and experiments since it would be difficult for anybody to see or learn anything about a perpetual motion from them or to decide whether there was any truth in them because no illustration by itself contains a description of the motion; however, taking various illustrations together and combining them with a discerning mind, it will indeed be possible to look for a movement and, finally to find one in them.”

I have said this several times over the years, but here goes again - in my opinion when he writes,‘taking various illustrations together and combining them with a discerning mind’  he is not excluding other illustrations, in other words he is also hinting at those in GB, AP and DT.

NB - What ever his original intention may have been in making his collection of illustrations with ink block printing, the above message written on the front of MT suggests that at that point in his life he thought that his illustrations might become the focus of examination by other people.  In which case what is in the collection is sufficient in his opinion for a stranger to discover his solution.  Personally I don’t believe that any of the collection has enough information within it, to help towards that desired end - unless you include the illustrations in GB, AP and DT.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Wheel Could Save Planet Earth.

Some folk seem worried about their future and that of the planet if Bessler’s wheel should be solved, built and developed. But they should be more concerned about their future if Bessler’s wheel isn’t built! Free or cheap, clean electricity might seem politically and economically dangerous, but there are worse dangers waiting for us.

This planet, and all its inhabitants, is facing a far greater danger from global warming than any scenario involving a successful emergence of Bessler’s wheel. I don’t need to tell you what we face or rather our children, but here a little reminder based on what’s happening right now.

“Global Temperature Is Rising. 

The Ocean Is Getting Warmer. ... 

The Ice Sheets Are Shrinking. ... 

Glaciers Are Retreating. ... 

Snow Cover Is Decreasing. ... 

Sea Level Is Rising. ... 

Arctic Sea Ice Is Declining. ... 

Extreme Events Are Increasing in Frequency.”

“In the U.K., communities as far inland as Peterborough, King's Lynn, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire in the east of England, as well as the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex coastlines, would all be underwater by 2050 if nothing is done to stop sea levels rising at their current rate.

Recently, on 12 July 2021 flash floods caused eight underground lines to be suspended and many stations forced to close. In the aftermath of flooded basements and shop floors, Londoners quickly took to social media to share shocking images of water gushing down tube steps, sentimental contents ruined, and cars determinedly ploughing through sodden high streets as they battle against water levels that licked the tops of their tyres. 

Five days later it happened again. In under two hours over 70cm (over 2 feet) of rain hit the streets of London. Once more, homes, restaurants, shops and stations were flooded.

Then again on 25 July the capital felt the effects of another sudden, violent downpour. Following this flood, as well as the now usual flurry of tube stations quickly shutting gates to passengers, two London hospitals had to close too, with patients forced to evacuate their beds and the building due to power outages. 

The Met Office also issued its first extreme heat warning in July as temperatures soared to 32⁰C in large parts of England and Wales. Last year temperatures hit 40°C. (104°F) for several days.

As homeowners and businesses struggled to deal with the devastation, yet again, the events were a stark reminder of projections from the non-profit news organisation Climate Central that parts of London were at risk of being under water by 2050. Just 27 years away.”

It’s the same story everywhere:-

“By 2050, sea level along contiguous U.S. coastlines could rise as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) above today’s waterline, according to researchers who analyzed nearly three decades of satellite observations. The results from the NASA Sea Level Change Team could help refine near-term projections for coastal communities that are bracing for increases in both catastrophic and nuisance flooding 

in coming years.

Global sea level has been rising for decades in response to a warming climate, and multiple lines of evidence indicate the rise is accelerating. The new findings support the higher-range scenarios outlined in an interagency report released in February 2022. That report, developed by several federal agencies – including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey – expect significant sea level rise over the next 30 years by region. They projected 10 to 14 inches (25 to 35 centimetres) of rise on average for the East Coast, 14 to 18 inches (35 to 45 centimetres) for the Gulf Coast, and 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimetre’s) for the West”.

So don’t fear the impact Bessler’s wheel would have, fear for us if no way of mitigating the effects of global warming can be found.

JC

What If Johann Bessler’s Machine Really Worked? Imagine!

It is so frustrating trying to convince people that Johann Bessler’s machine could be a great invention, an incredible benefit to the planet, a source of free, clean energy.  But we struggle to climb a gigantic wall of scepticism and yet there is a constant intensifying debate demanding a solution to global warming and all the ramifications associated with it.

I have, over a number of years, tried to interest people in those higher reaches of research and development who I believe would be in the right position to take note of Bessler’s work, and accept it as a challenge and obtain funding to rediscover the secret.  Polite interest was the usual response, adding a comment such as, “build a working model and I’ll take a look at it!”  This remains the response.

I watched an inspiring video by Prince William on climate change, such a good speaker!  No I’m not going to write to him, but he makes a good case for doing all we can to help our planet back to a healthier state.  Like his father he prioritises the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaaU0BuCnU

Bessler, aka Orffyreus, invented and exhibited a machine which he claimed used only gravity to make it rotate endlessly. After about fifty years of study, my original opinion that Bessler’s claim was genuine has been strengthened to the point where I know beyond a shadow of doubt that his machine was genuine.  The circumstantial evidence is so strong that in a court of law a judge must find Bessler innocent of an suggestions of impropriety. 

The fact that we have been taught emphatically that such devices oppose the laws of science, not to mention common sense, should not detract from the importance of a proper investigation into the potential advantages of such a device in today’s world of increasing energy costs, pollution and global warming.

Having studied Bessler’s words for over 50 years I’ve come to know him and how his mind worked.  When reading his account of his experiences one can feel his exasperation at the actions of his “enemies” his name for those who opposed his claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine.  He continued to stand by his assertion until his death.  I too will continue to maintain my own conviction that his machine was genuine and worthy of development.

I have written a detailed account of Johann Bessler’s life which is available by clicking the appropriate link in either the top of the side panel under the words, ‘Johann Bessler’s Books and biography’. Alternatively you can click on a link towards the bottom of the right side panel which lists each book.  The biography contains details of letters to and from Bessler plus others writing about him.  There are copies of witness statements, tests and testimonials. 

The other books are copies of Bessler’s own work and each has a full English translation at the end.

JC

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine”

― Alan Turing