Maybe there weren't five mechanisms?

Bessler's clues, some of which I have indicated, both here and on my other websites, are not particularly open to accurate interpretation prior to one's gaining personal knowledge of the design of some features of the wheel.  This might indicate that his main purpose in leaving so many clues, was to give himself the opportunity at a later date, to point to them and explain them, in the event of a dispute about who discovered the secret of the gravitywheel first, thus proving his priority in the matter.

But even if this is so, it does not rule out the possibility that he intended someone to take the time to try and understand them, and his prescient comment about accepting post-humous fame if no sale was ever achieved in his lifetime, seems to support this conjecture. 

One of the things I have found recently, is that the discovery of a particular feature of the design that I suddenly comprehend with my own prototype build, that looks as though it might prove extremely useful, often finds support in a previously misunderstood clue of Bessler's.

I now have to admit that I might be wrong about my predilection for assuming that Bessler's wheel had five mechanisms.  A discovery only yesterday has thrown my mind into confusion because I believe I have stumbled upon the real reason for the ubiquity of the number five clues.  This does not necessarily negate my previous stance in believing that five mechanisms were a vital ingredient, but it does throw the whole issue into doubt.

JC

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My Wheel Update

I've managed to find time to restart work on my own version of Bessler's wheel.  I say my version, but if it works it will clearly be recognisable as having been derived from Bessler's clues, many of which I think you are all unaware of, as I haven't shared everything to date - unless some of you are working on the same clues in secret!

There are five mechanisms each consisting of two equal weights and some levers.  There are no cords or springs, just levers and weights.   

The design still relies on the concept of parametric oscillation and I cannot see any alternative if you accept that gravity alone drove Bessler's wheel. I specifically chose the Estonian sport of 'Kiiking' to demonstrate exactly how parametric oscillation works and it's really very simple.

A parameter is a quantity or mathematical variable that stays constant.  So if you have an oscillator such as a swing with fixed lengths it will swing to and fro until it stops, because all the parameters such as length, weight and gravity remain constant.  But if you alter the parameters at each swing stroke, as a child does on a swing by swinging its legs at the appropriate point, you continue the swinging motion. 

To obtain a variable in the parameters of kiiking, theoretically the person swinging has to raise his weight at two points during each revolution - and the same goes for the gravitywheel.  However in practice only one lift is required and the return of the person's mass to its former position in readiness for raising it again, can take place with the aid of gravity as long as it occurs in good time time for the subsequent lift.

There is an extra factor or concept which I discovered about 18 months ago, which overcomes the objections to a gravity-only wheel, but I don't want to share it yet.  Suffice to say that it throws out the window all the arguments about the viability of such devices.  

JC

If at first you don't succeed....try, try, try again

Recent poems posted here prompted me to write something last night.  I write them for myself usually, although there is one of my earlier efforts at the beginning of my Bessler biogrpahy, 'Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?' - and it's also on my web site at http://www.free-energy.co.uk/html/my_poem.html

Here it is:-

You think you've found the right solution

To continuous revolution,

Without the need for energy,

except of course for gravity.

It's common to the likes of us

Who like to think Orffyreus

Was genuine, and not a crook

Who fooled us all with gobbledygook.

But we get fooled ourselves you see,

When ideas, new, convince us we,

Have found the secret to the wheel.

We tell the world we will reveal,

The details of our cherished notion

That we found perpetual motion - 

But then we find we were deceived

And it was wrong which we believed.

The wheel stayed still, it didn't turn

We smash it up and let it burn.

But soon we're back with a new concept,

The disappointed tears we wept

Forgotten in the blinding light

Of revelation in the night.

This time for sure the wheel will spin

Endlessly - but who will win?

JC

The weights on Bessler's wheel describe a path similar to the letter 'R'.

I noted a comment on the besslerwheel forum by jim_mich, while I was away in Spain, that I had at one time espoused a belief that the movement of the weights in Bessler's wheel followed the path shown in the avatar, I use on the forum, the Yin Yang symbol.  I used to think the weights moved on a path similar to the double curve which runs across the middle of the circle.  It's true that I did cherish this idea for a time and indeed I discussed it in my book 'Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved'.  But I came to the same conclusion that Jim did, that there was no way to incorporate such a design within any of the wheels I was working on, and I no longer subscribe to this idea and have not done so for some time because conflicting evidence appeared to suggest another design altogether.

People must be aware of other 'coded' information I have discussed and in particular the alphabetic substition of Bessler's name and his adoption of two extra forenames.  (see www.theorffyreuscode.com) He was born Elias Bessler and added the Johann Ernst at some point before he became famous, so that E. Bessler became JEE Bessler.  Given the alphabetic substitution to turn Bessler into Orffyre and thence to Orffyreus, I pointed out that JEE became WRR. 

Now I could understand the doubling of the letter 'E', given his (and mine!) obsession with the number five and 'E' being the fifth letter to give two fives - and I could also appreciate the inclusion of the 'W' in the subsequent alphabetic substitution, which also provided two fives in the form of double 'V' - but before the alphabetic substitutions of 'W' he had an apparently meaningless 'J' and after the alphabetic substitution he had an equally meaningless 'R'.  To what purpose could these two letters of doubtful value be attributed?

I assumed that he simply fancied the name Johann and with alphabetic substitution, the inital letter gave him the useful 'W', and the equally valuable 'E' gave him the 'R' and that, it seems to me must have been of equal importance since he incorporated it in every logo he signed all his letters with .  I reproduce two examples of the logo below so that you can see it.  I am convinced that the letter 'R' mimics the paths of the weights but it has to be interpreted correctly, which I believe I have done.  So there is your clue for today.

JC

It's five mechanisms, not four or eight.

I discussed the importance of the number 5 to Bessler, here last year (see my web sites at http://www.besslerswheel.com/  and http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/ )  In my opinion there is so much information to be had from Bessler's books that just stress the importance of this number that I fail to see how anyone can argue with the obvious fact that Bessler intended to convey something of importance to do with the number 5.  I am therefore astounded to be told from time to time that I have imagined all of it, or that I who has become obsessed wit it!  

The only thing we don't know for sure is why.  Well I do, but until I finish my wheel I cannot prove it, but I have worked out why it is necessary to have five mechanisms and why equal numbers of mechanisms won't work, at least not with this design.  

Fischer von Erlach described hearing the sound of 'about eight weights landing gently', etc.Why was he not sure about the number of weights he heard?  He was a widely respected and talented architect and engineer and seems to have tried to carry out a thorough examination of the wheel, yet he had some doubt about how many weights he could hear. 

Let us suppose that Bessler covered a weight in one mechanism with sound-deadening material - he mentioned that he used felt in an earlier wheel - so the other weights made a heavy knock as they landed, but the remaining weight made some kind of soft thud or perhaps it landed silently on a spring and made no noise at all. Did Erlach hear another sound but as it wasn't the same as the others, he attributed it to some other action and therefore concluded that there were about eight weights, whereas I argue that there were ten - five for each direction the wheel rotated.  The only suspicion he might have had was that there was a gap in the regular rhythm  of sounds he heard, but when you take into account the sounds he must have heard from the reversing mechanism which might not have been evenly synchronised with the forward moving ones you can see how he might have had doubts.

So guys, forget the eight weights or the four weights, it's five for each direction - and they operate in pairs.

JC

A belated expression of thanks to my first customers - and on with the show!

I've been looking for some old stamps for my grandaughter who has decided to start collecting them and I came across a huge bundle of envelopes I received from people all over the world when I first published my book. I have almost 400 stamps from so many different countries.

I'm amazed at how many I have and I think I should belatedly publish a word of thanks to all those people who took a chance on sending me a cheque to buy my book.  There was no PayPal nor anything similar back in 1997 and it must have seemed a risky purchase to send a cheque from one side of the world to the other.  The cheques themselves took six weeks to clear if they were in any denomination other than Pounds Sterling, which most of them were, but I couldn't leave people waiting all that time so I just sent the books and hoped the cheques would clear.  They all did and for that I'm extremely grateful.  

So I'd like to offer a belated thank you to all those people who risked a sum of money, with very little information about myself.  I guess we have grown older and wiser since then and are  much more aware and wary of internet scams than we were back then.  The internet was a new and exciting toy whose dangers most of us didn't fully appreciate.  Not only are we now much more clued up on the dangers of the internet but we are more cynical unfortunately.

My Spanish holiday gave me some much needed thinking time and I discovered some more information which has enabled me to produce a more accurate picture of the precise proportions of two parts of the mechanism.  I'm constantly amazed at the amount of information Bessler managed to secrete in various places under our eyes, without our noticing.  Anyway back to work, time marches on!

JC

300th anniversary approaching and no sign of success .... so far!

We're almost at the 300th anniversary of Johann Bessler's first exhibition - and I've a feeling it's going to be a bit a damp squib!  No sign of success either here or elsewhere although that may change very soon.  

I'm going away to Spain for a couple of weeks very early on Tuesday morning and I'll have to close the comments facility, but as soon as I get back it will be open again and I'll be back at work on my own wheel, unless of course someone has beaten me to the winning post and published their own working model!  I won't close the comments 'til Monday evening.

There have been a number of people who have said that they will have a working model by the 300th anniversary, myself among them, but I suspect that they won't materialise (mine won't).  My own work has gone well and I think that I have the right design if only roughly, and getting it perfect has proved more difficult than I anticipated.  But as I continue to build, adjust, build and adjust I learn more and more (about how to build a stationary wheel!).  I know that certain people will say I'm just fooling myself and my design will never work (I don't need to name you guys!) but I have something up my sleeve that may astound you once you know.

I'm taking a small computer with me in the hope of finding free wi-fi and I may post something if I can.

So good luck to all of you who are building or designing and I'll see you again soon.

JC

Divide the toys page into five parts.

I feel that the clues I have published may be too subtle for some to accept. This puzzles me, but of course I've had many years to study them and get inside Bessler's mind.  Obviously some people think I may be fooling myself but I have good reasons for thinking the clues are deliberate and real.  I never intended to give anything away when I published the clues and therefore by themselves they may seem unimportant, but I hope to explain why they are helpful in discovering the solution to Bessler's wheel.  I won't publish any more as I shall be away for a two weeks and will have to close the comments facility until my return.  I am taking a small computer with me and if I can find a wifi hotspot somewhere then I'll try to write something.  So, in the mean time....

3 days to go - 7th clue.  The items in the Toys page in MT, numbered 138, 139, 140 and 141, are labelled A, B, C, D and E (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  There is an additional hand-drawn item, a spinning top, which includes in the notes attached to it the number 5 (five again!). You can rather neatly divide the drawing labelled 'A' horizontally into five equal divisions.  You can run the horizontal lines across to the left and find that they match well with item 'B' and further across to the stork's bill/lazy tongs.

It has always seemed clear to me that the items labelled 'A' and 'B' are the same things - and with the five divisions in place, show they are also five repeated versions of items 'C' and 'D'.  'A' is shown with the five mechanical arrangements labelled 'C' and 'D' in an open position, and 'B' is the same but closed.

But item labelled 'E' is also similar - you should think of it as 'C' and 'D' linked together.

In other words, as I said in another post, the drawings are not what they appear to be, at first sight.

One more thing.  I could never understand why Johann Bessler added four numbers to the bottom of the page and I assumed that it was to show which pages he had omitted.  In fact this doesn't make sense because this is the last page and followed on from 137, which would have been the last page before he added the toys page. But four numbers doesn't relate to the five (or six) drawings he labelled, but here's an idea - 138, 139, 140 and 141 totals 558.

JC

Bessler's pendulums are not just pendulums.

Only 5 days to go  -  6th Clue. It seems that my suggestion that the pendulums are more than mere decorations is considered highly doubtful, so I shall have to try to convince the sceptics with some more clues.  I would like to convince most people that the secret lies in "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," - Bessler's words, but I couldn't have put it better myself.  

He published the Merseberg drawing in its original state in 1715, in Grundlicher Bericht, and the MT was not completed with the Toys page until about 1723 and yet in Apologia Poetica, also published in 1715, he had already hinted in quite strong terms that he had left a number of clues behind in case he died before the secret was out.

I'm surprised that I'm having to say this but perhaps I should point out here that the pendulums, as shown in his illustrations, are not to be taken literally, in other words they are not what they appear to be.- that would have been far too obvious  For instance, it's no good calculating their period of swing.  They weren't there as speed limiters or modifiers, but they were inside the wheel, but not in their current form.  If you think about it for a moment you realise that it would have been crazy for Bessler to put anything which was easily read and understood correctly as a clue; it had to be opaque, even to the serious researcher. 

I am not going to add any drawings here, but if you are interested, take a look at the Merseberg wheel illustration in Das Triumphirende.  Two hints here, firstly you all know the main wheel includes a pentagon aligned on the rope that passes behind the wheel, the sloping hatch marks are to help fill in the missing parts for one of the pentagons, of which there are two.  Why is the pentagon important?

The second hint is that there is clear evidence that the wheel facing you should be drawn larger than it is shown. Check out the tops of the two right hand pendulum pillars numbered 12, they're higher than the others for a reason, but the two wheels in the picture are the same height. The enlarged circle includes the outer end of the left side of the horizontal weight and also coincides with the right edge of the picture. I leave it to you to decide how one might make use of this.

More clues in other drawings to follow.

JC