The Bessler-Collins gravitywheel.

There was a comment on here and I've had some emails asking me why my wheel is taking so long.  People have said that it sounded very complex - maybe too complex to be similar to Bessler's wheel.  So with only 21 days left 'til the 300th anniversary I'm sharing some of the details of its build although I doubt you will find it very illuminating - it's not meant to be - yet!

I think I shall finish it in time but I'm not quite there yet.  I am committed to being away for a couple of weeks at the beginning of June so I may save the result 'til I return - or I may not - it probably depends on whether it works or not!  I'm disappointed to be away on the very day we should be remembering Bessler's first exhibition but it can't be helped. Families make arrangements without considering the possibility that they might clash with an important date in my Bessler calendar!

The backplate on which it's all mounted is three feet wide.  There are five mechanisms for reasons I understand but which are not immediately obvious at first sight.  Each mechanism has ten parts plus two weights, so in total the whole wheel has 60 parts, plus the axle.  I wish it had eleven parts per mechanism then it would total 55!

The axle runs all the way through the wheel - for those who have suggested that it didn't.  The mechanisms employ the 'kiiking' principle and the wheel is designed to turn in one direction only.

There are no springs employed in my version although I could find a use for them if required, but the scissor linkage otherwise known as "stork's bill", or" lazy tongs" is present.

The method of working is readily apparent to a casual observer however longer study would be necessary to appreciate the finer points of detail without which it would fail.  If it works, the wheel will begin to spin spontaneously as soon as any brake mechanism that might be applied is released.

The main reason why it has taken so long is that although I had the basic principle, there were some parts of the mechanism whose precise design arrangement was open to interpretation so I had to test each configuration to determine which worked the best.  I have now got the mechanism arrangement I think works best so all I have to do is complete all five and test the wheel. 

I'm convinced that even if it doesn't work the principle is sound and will lead to someone succeeding in making a working wheel. Watch this space.

JC

Gravity lies at the heart of all movement on the planet.

In yesterday's post I was trying to say that the traditional explanations of why gravity cannot be used to drive a wheel continuously, must be wrong because the evidence that Bessler's wheel was genuine is so compelling.  I wanted to get away from the oft-parroted words we learn from text books, wikipedia etc., and think for ourselves. 

I have tried the well-tested route of analogies, one of Eric Laithwaite's favourite ways of explaining things, but people still get side-tracked into irrelevant details.  They simply don't get the allusion to gravity being analogous to the wind.  The origin of the wind is always introduced no matter how many times I say 'you have to look at this as a local effect'.

Instead of trotting out the same old stuff, why don't we think about the problem and use our commons sense?

Gravity is continuous, we know that because when we drop something it falls to the floor - it happens every time!  

I can pick up a book off the floor and replace it on a shelf and restore the potential energy lost in sending the book to the floor.

Let's say I fire a rifle horizontally, the bullet hits the ground 500 yards away at a point level with the ground I'm standing on.  At the same time I drop another bullet from my hand level with the rifle and both bullets hit the ground at the same time.  Gravity was only responsible for making the bullet drop to the ground.

Those are the features which define a conservative force.  It is a continuous force; energy lost by it is capable of being restored by reversing what happened; and it is not necessary to take into account the path of a fallen object when calculating the work done by gravity.

Now it is always said that for those reasons gravity cannot be used as we wish to use it.  But each of those definitions can apply to wind and water currents, so why separate them from gravity?

Yesterday the sun was introduced again.  My fault, I mentioned it.  The thing is that the features of a conservative force mentioned above must be applied locally.  We don't know where gravity originates so we just need to look at how it manifests itself here on earth.  I tried to accommodate those who wish to include the sun in their argument by fixing on the fact that air is affected by gravity just as everything else is.  We know that the air is more dense closer to the earth's surface because of gravity.  It is analogous to the oceans of the planet.  If you dived to the bottom of the deepest ocean you would be crushed by the sheer weight of water above you, and a small bubble of air would escape from your flattened lungs and shoot towards the surface of the water.  

As it rose the bubble would get larger and larger.  Air at the surface of the eath is like that and as it rises each molecule gets larger and less dense.  

Yes the sun affects the air currents but gravity holds it down and would do so without the sun.  Solar energy may be responsible for the winds that blow, but gravity enables them to rise and fall, and create varying pressures. Gravity acts on molecules of whatever is with its field whether it's air, water or lumps of lead. The conservative force of gravity lies at the heart of all movement on the planet.

I wish everyone would accept Bessler's statement that the weights are themselves the PM device, the ‘essential constituent parts’".  Then we could go about trying to explain why that can be so.  I have tried and will continue to try to find the solution but sometimes I feel as if I'm banging my head against a wall of taught science.  No-one thinks for themselves any more but takes everything they are told for granted - parrot fashion.  I'm not saying that people don't understand what they have learned but sometimes it is easier to assume that that is all there is to the facts; there are no other factors to be considered, when perhaps a little lateral thinking might help us to understand how to solve the problem.

JC

The Elephant in the Room.

I think we are due for a sea change or should that be a paradigm shift?  A paradigm shift occurs when axioms, long trusted as self-evident truths, gradually get weakened by contradictory evidence previously ignored as being anomalous. The result usually involves a new way of thinking which accommodates the anomalies.  A sea change, in modern parlance, tends to indicate a complete change from what was thought to be true in the past, but it seems to be more of a transformation than a change.

It seems to me that there is an elephant in the room!  If an elephant was in a room it would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with a looming big issue. There are certain inescapable facts attached to the Bessler legend which are ignored or circumvented, the result of which is that the possibility of using gravity as an energy source has been dismissed.

One, Karl the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel validated the wheel.  It is inconceivable that he would be involved in fraud.

Two, no evidence of fraud was ever found, and Bessler never stopped declaring his innocence.

Three, Bessler stated that "these weights are themselves the PM device, the ‘essential constituent parts’s".

Four, there are no other forces sufficient in either speed or strength, to react quickly enough or strongly enough to assist gravity in turning the wheel.

Conclusion, Bessler's wheel was enabled to turn by the force of gravity alone.

So let us suppose that the wheel was genuine and it depended on gravity alone.  We are told gravity is a conservative force and therefore incapable of supporting continuous rotation.  Why should that be so?  Wind is conservative, so is a stream, but they support continuous rotation.   I used to liken the action of  gravity to the wind, or a stream of water but people get too hung up on where the wind comes from, what causes it, the action of the sun etc., to consider the implications of that fact.

I think the sun is not the ultimate cause of the wind, gravity is.  Air can be warmed by volcanic action or man's actions so not necessarily the sun, but gravity is essential.

The passage of air molecules (mainly a  mixture of nitrogen oxygen and carbon dioxide)  from a higher pressure area to a lower one, is discerned as wind.  The lower pressure air results when its molecules are warmed and it expands and rises, leaving the surround molecules to rush into the potential vacuum which would result. When the air warms it expands and becomes less dense.  The higher you go the thinner the air becomes until there isn't enough to breathe. Why is that?  The simple reason is that the air is subject to gravity the same as everything else is.

Air close to the surface of the earth is at its densest with the molecules most tightly packed together.  When warmed the molecules move further apart so become less dense.  They also rise, squeezed upwards by the denser cooler air at ground level. 

In Bessler’s wheel the lead weights were composed of lead molecules.  It doesn't change shape unless heated to melting point so when used as a weight it is uniformly heavy unlike the more volatile air molecules. Gravity lies at the heart of  the motion of the air molecules and the sun is only responsible for warming them.  Without the action of gravity on our atmosphere there wouldn't be any wind - there wouldn't be any air either!.  Gravity enables the air molecules to move continuously creating the air currents which drive windmills.  And it’s gravity that enables the weights in Bessler’s wheel to rotate it continuously.

The air molecules which, in the wind drive the windmill and in the lead weights can drive the gravitywheel,.are each driven by the force of gravity.

JC

Gravity is a conservative force

I see the old controversy about whether gravity is a conservative force or not, and what that means, continues to rage on the besslerwheel forum. I have my own opinion about that but it seems to me that however you define it, it was what enabled Bessler's wheel to work.  There are some senior members who don't accept that his wheel derived its power solely from gravity and that is the orthodox view.  I know some readers on this forum also share that opinion but I hope to change their minds soon.

What interests me is the question of what drives the wheel if it isn't gravity.  We can see that it uses weights and it seems logical that if it requires weight then the wheel won't spin in the gravityless conditions of outer space so if it isn't gravity alone, what additional force is used to complete each rotation?

I've seen and considered suggestions such as ambienmt temperature changes, static electricity, magnets, the  Coriolis effect, centrifugal force, springs, air pressure, electromagnetism, inetial thrust changes etc etc. I'm sure I've missed some out but it seems to me that these are inadequate for the task being either too slow to react, too weak or simply too difficut to employ in what was reportedly a simple design.

So we are left with gravity - I think what we have been taught is correct but there is a simple way around the problem which I explained on my website at http://www.besslerswheel.com/html/conservative_force.html

I think we have to accept Bessler's word that it was the weights which providd the energy to drive the wheel and they required the presence of gravity to work.  No one has come up with a credible alternitive force in my opinion.

JC

Memo to self: working model only - no paper designs!

Almost since I published my first book, I've had the privilege of being asked for my opinion on other people's designs for gravitywheels, and I have been perfectly willing to take a look at each one.  I have always warned the person in advance that I might not accept that their design was valid but that I could be wrong.  I have so far never received anything I thought held promise and even after receiving both warm thanks and not so warm ones, it wasn't that which decided me against looking at any more.  I have been working on my own design ideas and building model wheel since I was in my 20s and that was a long time ago, and realised that if I was given a design to look at and found that it was similar to one I was currently working on, how could I prove that I had come up with the design myself - and had not taken the idea from anything anyone sent to me?

Once that thought took hold I decided against looking at any more designs, partly to avoid giving people bad news, and I am the first to admit I could be wrong, but also to avoid getting into priority disputes and ensuing accusations and counter-accusations.

However I fell into a trap of my own making this week by over-reacting to comments made on this blog, and my resolve not to consider another person's design  weakened temporarily. The result is that someone who has their own cherished idea of how the wheel worked feels slighted simply because I disagreed with them, even though I could be wrong.

This episode has highlighted something I should have been all too well aware of by now and have frequently urged others not to do - it's no good posting designs for gravitywheels because no-one will accept anything except a working model. So regretfully I have decided against sharing my design for now and will continue to try to build my own working version because I know from bitter experience that no one will accept my design without the proof of principle that validates it.  

I apologise for taking this decision but it seemed to me that I was about to do what I have urged people not to do too many times to count. I can't believe I almost fell in to the same trap I have warned others against so many times!

But my personal opinion remains the same, my design will work!  I had planned to finish it on or around the 300th anniversary but if it's a few weeks late it's only my own reputation that will suffer and the wheel will make its appearance when it's ready.  It isn't that the wheel does not work, but that the mechanism isn't quite achieving what it is designed to do and there are a number of variations available which have to be built in order to see which is the most effective.  I'm happy that the basic concept is right as is the overall design.

Once this current build (which has been going on for months!) is tested and found wanting I will share the information, but I cannot give up the construction of  potentially successful wheel now, just because the anniversary is nearly here.

JC

One Pound plus four Pounds equals five pounds.

Fourth Clue - yeah, I know I said 'no more', but I might as well keep going.  I'll try to make them more interesting ... after this one!

Most of you are aware of the evidence for Bessler's apparent obsession with the number five and fifty five.  I know the reason for it and I will share it later, but for now consider the following extract from his Apologia Poetica.

"He shall be called a great craftsman
who can easily/lightly throw up a heavy thing,
and when one pound falls a quarter,
it shoots up four pounds four quarters. &c.

Two clues here; firstly a heavy thing is thrown upwards - and secondly if one pound falls a quarter and in doing so causes four pounds to rise four quarters, that is another way of saying when a pound falls a quarter it causes another pound to rise a quarter followed by another three each rising a quarter.  Bessler is reiterating that there are five (one pound plus four pounds) pounds falling and rising. Clarification to follow.

JC

6th June 2012 draws ever closer!

With 6th June fast approaching I've been reflecting on what might or might not happen.

If my own model works, then I guess the news will spread quickly and who knows how things will develop.  Whether it turns out to be of any use, I don't know and I doubt anyone can possibly know, until people have built models for themselves.  At least it will be a interesting curiosity if nothing else.

If my model fails then I am even less sure of the future.  I have always said that designs on paper will never convince anyone and only a working model will do that, so my fondly predicted solution, because it's on paper, will probably be nothing more than a damp squib.  However I think (hope?) that perhaps a few of those members of the Besslerwheel forum and those who read my blog, and others of a similar ilk, will read it and understand why I am so certain that I am right, even if I am unable to get the mechanism's proportions right.  One or more among them may achieve what I failed to do, using my own insights, I hope.

I put a time limit on my research as the 6th June this year, and now that that time is nigh a part of me is regretting tying myself down to a date, but I made a promise and I shall stick to it, just in case I am theoretically right and am merely holding up progress towards a working solution to Bessler's wheel by some other more perceptive engineer.

Due to personal circumstances entirely unconnected with Bessler I will not be writing anything for two or three weeks after the 6th June.  As I say, this has nothing to do with anything connected with Bessler so please wait for two or three weeks before assuming anything has befallen me, good or bad.

JC 

LONDON Olympics 2012 - and my clues to be explained.

Many years ago,I used to be something of an athlete, and also did four London marathons, and I always hoped that one day the Olympics would be held somewhere closer to home and I would be able to attend some of the events.  This year it's happening right here in little old England and will I be attending? No.

I would love to be there but getting a seat is harder than winning the lottery. But anyway, I believe that the tickets only give you a four hour slot to watch the events you've chosen, so my dreams of sitting there all day have blown away.  No surprise, given the huge demand for seats.

But actually I shall be sitting at home watching on TV and I'll get a better view than any seat could give me - just the crowd atmosphere that will be missing, but I'll enjoy it where ever I am.

BTW, just received some emails asking if I will be explaining the clues at some point.  So yes, the clues I post will be referred to and listed again, closer to the publication day, and the relevance of each one will be explained.

JC

Bessler found the answer where everyone was looking.

Third clue.

Bessler said in Apologia Poetica, "These foolish ravings of my enemies will be held up to total ridicule by all intelligent people, who, with true understanding, have sought the Mobile in a place no different from that in which I eventually found it."

To paraphrase the above, Bessler said intelligent people had already looked for the solution where he found it.

In hindsight this clue reveals something so astoundingly obvious that I find it hard to believe that no one has independently thought of it - I certainly didn't.  The history of overbalancing wheels shows that the same designs are repeatedly 'discovered' by each person who comes fresh to this subject.

JC