Restrain your excitement and your need for approbation, or suffer from premature affirmation!

I've strived to understand how Johann Bessler produced what appeared to be a continuously-turning wheel, sometimes called a Perpetual Motion machine, and in doing so I've suffered from a variety of psychological stresses. Some  don't believe in Bessler's claims but are intrigued to know how he fooled everyone, both then and now.  They make their opinion clear and in turn receive the brickbats from those others equally vociferous in defence of the legendary inventor.  Others such as myself, are firmly of the opinion that his claims were just and honest and I've spent my life seeking the answer to this puzzle but from the stand-point that he knew the real secret to perpetual motion.

As a researcher I spend every hour available for research, striving to be the one who succeeds in the search.  This is not necessarily due to a desire for fame and fortune, though I cannot think that anyone would reject some kind of recogition for success. Neither do I blame anyone for seeking those attractive rewards which should be given to that person who finds success in this rather limited field.

Politicians often fall back on something they refer to as 'received wisdom'. Basically it is the official, stuffy, unimaginative and conventional viewpoint. And it sometimes turns out to be wrong. In this field of endeavour it is the idea that a gravity-enabled wheel that turns continuously is not possible.  Speaking for myself, I am desperate to prove that the received wisdom is wrong and many times in the past I have posted on forums my personal conviction that I am about to prove it, only to find that I was wrong.  Even as far back as 1997 I thought I had solved the mystery and having said so publicly, received many scornful comments and suggestions  that I should either put up or shut up.  These responses hurt at the time but experience teaches us humility and the wisdom to know when to keep silent and let only the successful machine speak for itself.

I am frequently surprised to read so often of others who make the same mistake that I made - and I still do in private conversations!  Why is it so hard to control the exuberance, excitement and utter certainty that I'm on the verge of success?  Why can't I restrain this strange desire to trumpet my news abroad before I have the certainty of a working wheel? It doesn't seeem to occur to me at the time, that everyone feels that they are on the verge of success, or have had a revelation that they believe will lead to success

I confess I don't know, and I have to admit to suffering mild irritation when reading such comments as appeared recently on the besslerwheel forum and from time to time here on this blog.  Let people tell the world after they have the proof, and not before. Without the working wheel there is nothing to shout about.  

If I succeed in building a besslerwheel you will only know of it when it is running, and not before.

JC

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Thought for the day - String's the thing!

I have long believed that Johann Bessler used some cord, or string if you prefer, in each of his mechanisms.  I'm sure that this statement will please at least one contributer to this blog, but I insist that there was only one cord per mechanism.  In his Apologia Poetica, XLVI, Bessler included a strange passage which contained the following comment :-

The dog creeps out of his kennel just as far as his chain will stretch.

This has always seemed to me to describe a flexible link from the 'kennel' to the 'dog', and a piece of chain is similar to a length of cord in that you can pull with it but you can't push.  It is a reversable, one-way, force transmitter.which can only pull.  In his Maschinen Tractate No 9, Bessler writes

nothing is to be accomplished with any device unless my principle of connectedness is activated.

I think his  principle of connectedness referred to the cord or chain he described in the first quote above.  As I've said before, the word connectedness implies a  degree of connection and also leads one to conclude that two items are indeed connected, no matter that it is not a rigid connection.  What would be the point of such a connection?

If the 'dog'  'creeps' out of its kennel, it seems like a slow action as if it is dragging a weight. Before this action Bessler writes:-

cat slinks silently along and snatches nice juicy mice

This looks like  a much quicker action and it takes place before the slow action of the dog,  I think the mice refer to weights as do the horses mentioned later in the same passage.  So a quick action followed by a slower one might be the falling of a weight (quick) then the slower replacement of the same weight.

The point of having a flexible connection seems to me to suggest that the weight drives its second weight into the desired position, but gravity is allowed to act in returning it because if the connection is rigid the mechanism will remain balanced.

JC

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Bessler's use of the circumpunct in his pseudonym, Orffyreus.

Before you begin, let me say, this is largely speculative!

A circumpunct is a circle with a dot or point in its centre. Bessler used it in place of the letter 'O' in Orffyreus, in almost all of his abbreviated signatures as well as many of his full ones.  The above two are typical examples.  I used to think that it was his own invention and simply represented his wheel, however in the last couple of years I have begun to think there is more to its presence than I had originally thought.  It was, as is the case with every little personal addition of Bessler's, deliberate, planned and with a double meaning. 

The circumpunct symbol has a long history and has represented the sun,  and was the hieroglyphic for the the Egyptian God, Ra.  As a nazar it was believed to protect against the evil eye.  It was the Alchemical symbol for Gold.  Its use dates back to the Hebrews and Egypt and for all I know further back.  It was used by Dan Brown in his book, 'The Lost Symbol', and interestingly has links to Freemasonry, where it was used as the symbol of an Entered Apprentice. This title refers to a junior member of the Freemasons and might apply to Bessler, but for what purpose I do not know. He might have been pointing to some kind of code system used by the Freemasons.  However, I'm not convinced that he was an accredited member, even if he was familiar with much of their history and methods; although he seems to hint at the square and compass in his drawings and of course they are crudely represented on the plaque at Carlshafen, bearing his image. Two of the three famous Rosicrucian Manifestos were published in Kassel and it was always recognised as a centre of Freemasonry and I'm sure that Bessler learned quickly all he could about the subject, given his propensity for doing so in other areas of interest.  I note that in the Masonic Lodge, the emblem is associated with St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, whose feast days fall on the summer and winter solstices.

In Cabbalistic mysticism, it represented the archangel Michael, - and it is related to the monad, which is a whole new can of worms.

To the Pythagoreans, the point and circle represented eternity, whose “centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.” This symbol was used by the Greek philosophers to represent the point of the beginning of creation. From this symbol they evolved towards the additional rules of creation including the Golden Ratio. 

There is one other possible connection and that points straight to Francis Bacon and his bilateral cipher. This alphabet clearly shows the circumpunct and if Bessler was familar with Bacon's work as well as the symbol he would have thought it perfect for use in his signature, both as a link to his wheel but also, possibly, as a link, potentially, to his use of the bilateral code.

I guess it would look something like the above in print:-

and here, just for my own amusement is my name, suitably embellished;

JC

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Update - and musings on the word 'pairs'.

The test rig did not perform as I had hoped.  I completed the construction of the single mechanism and oriented it so that when one weight fell, the other weight was lifted in a certain way, but there was insufficient mechanical advantage available to achieve the full lift.  I would like to show the details so that you can see why I was optimistic that this would work, but I'm not ready to show that yet.  The concept hidden below my initials at the end of each blog, is still the key to success in my opinion, and I have another design to work through before I can discuss this openly.

My theory that parametric oscillation was the key to understanding Bessler's wheel has kind of dropped in importance. I still think it has a part to play, but only in the way that moving weights within the wheel, back and forth, within the period of one rotation, will overbalance the wheel. "A parametric oscillator is a harmonic oscillator whose parameters oscillate in time. For example, a well known parametric oscillator is a child pumping a swing by periodically standing and squatting to increase the size of the swing's oscillation" (from wikipedia).  So the parameters of the weight's positions alter during the time of one rotation.  In other words I have discarded the notion that replicating the actions of a swing might be the answer, but I still believe the correct movement of the weights will lead to success.

One of the strange features of this research is that one can become completely convinced that a particular design concept is the answer. No other method can even be considered - that is, until you have proved to yourself that you were wrong.  Now another plan has slipped into my mind and is supported by another revelation about Bessler's words!  How cunning that man was, to present us with ambiguity upon ambiguity! One of the things I've learned about what Bessler wrote - and I guess it's fairly obvious when you think about it - he describes things in an ambiguous way, yes, and his words are accurate, but only in hindsight.  His intention was, in my opinion, to write comments which could be understood in more than one way, but even the alternative way was not right because only after his wheel had been built and sold could he then point to the many clues he had left and with a certain amount of glee, and say "that is what I meant when I said, blahdeblah!"  The words were written in such a way that no-one could doubt their actual meaning once it was explained.

Take this translation of one famous comment, "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." Apologia Poetica

There is an abundance of clues wrapped up in this ironic comment.  I found seven separate pieces of information in it, and the clever thing about it is that if is misinterpreted, or should I say, alternatively interpreted, it reveals another double meaning one of which is also valid. Plus of course it is also tongue-in-cheek by suggesting that it would indeed take a great craftsman to achieve something that appears, on the face of it, to be impossible - when another interpretation reveals what he really meant.

I will discuss the designs I have been working on upon my return from Spain, but for now I shall just comment on the following passage from Apologia Poetica.

" So then, a work of this kind of craftsmanship has, as its basis of motion, many separate pieces of lead . These come in pairs, such that, as one of them takes up an outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changing places all the time."

Later translations suggest that the literal reading of the text goes, "a work of art must be driving many pieces lead; they are now always two and two;"  I did not see this apparent mistranslation when my friend Mike Senior first showed it to me.  Later he admitted that he took the meaning as 'pairs' simply because that is what he thought Bessler meant.  

But the word for pairs is variously, 'PAIRS = paarweise {adv}; in Paaren; PAIR of twins = Zwillingspaare; paar = twos; paarweise = in pairs; in twos; by pairs'.  Why didn't Bessler use that well-known word paars?  I have a theory....

If you had two weights working together as a pair you would use the word 'paar'; but if you had three weights, A B and C, working together, first you might have weight 'A' move weight 'B' and then upon weight 'A's return under gravity, again, it moves weight 'C', 'B' having already returned under gravity.  So out of three weights you are using two and two = AB and AC, alternately.  In confirmation of this possibility  note that there are two drawings in Das Triumphirende, which show wheels with three weights to each mechanism.

JC

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The Legend of Johannn Bessler's Wheel, also known as ORFFYREUS.

This blog is temporarily closed to comments while I take a break and continue with my experiments to reconstruct Bessler's wheel.  My first task is to complete a test rig I'm building to evaluate the design of one mechanism; this is an attempt to try to make it perform in the way I have designed it to.  If this works I shall make several identical mechanisms and attach them to the wheel.  I am undecided as yet, whether I should immediately have five such mechanism on the wheel, or initially test it with fewer.  I have always believed that Bessler recommended five for the working machine, but he seems to suggest that he was able to at least obtain some very slow rotation with just one mechanism. For me the problem is that one mechanisms would require more careful balancing than multiple numbers and therefore something between three and five seems to be the better option if I wish to obtain a proof of principle.

If the test rig fails to deliver - despite any adjustments I might see fit to make - then I shall probably publish my design and explain how I came up with it; if it does work then the final test, which will require that I attach a number of mechanisms to the wheel, will follow and, I hope, prove that their operation is working according to the correct principle.  In this case there will be a further delay before I open my blog for comments again, while I follow a plan I devised should I ever meet with success.

During this period I shall put up a brief account of the Legend of Bessler's Wheel., as follows:-

The Legend of Johannn Bessler's Wheel, also known as ORFFYREUS.

In 1712 Johann Bessler (aka ORFFYREUS) exhibited a machine which he claimed, drew its energy from gravity. Despite nearly twenty years of the most stringent tests, examinations and public trials, not the slightest sign of deception was ever found. Bessler died 33 years later, in poverty, still maintaining that his machine was genuine and there was no convincing evidence to the contrary.He had a number of supporters as well as enemies, and among his champions were some of the most respected men of the day. These men, included Gottfried Leibniz and Christian Wolff, top scientists of the calibre of Newton.

Bessler wanted to sell his machine for the sum of £20,000, a fortune in those days, equivalent to well over a million Pounds today. Despite the apparent stupidity of asking such a large sum of money, it was not unique and in fact Bessler based the sum on the one offered by the British Board of Longitude, which, at the same time, was offering £20,000 to the first person to discover a means of locating the exact position of a ship at sea, longitudinally. John Harrison eventually won the money although it took him and his son many years to get all of it from a reluctant British government.

Bessler failed to sell his machine, not for a lack of customers, but because he refused to allow access to his secret until he had the money in his possession. He offered his head to the axe man if he should be found to have deceived his prospective clients. But his determination not to risk being cheated defeated all negotiations. He died in harrowing circumstances years later, building Europe's first horizontal windmill to his own design of course. In mid-winter, starving, weak and in debt, he fell to his death. The massive base of the mill still stands, decaying, weatherworn and utterly neglected, in a small town in Germany.

A lifetime's research has convinced me, against the traditional teachings of science, that Bessler's wheel really did work and it completely convinced all who examined it.  I first encountered Johann Bessler at the age of fifteen, and I'm now sixty-eight and I have total conviction about his claims to have designed and built and continuously turning wheel.  There has never been a more urgent need for this 300 year old technology to be rediscovered than right now.  If you are only the slightest bit intrigued by this story, please visit the websites linked at the edge of this blog.  

I'll be reporting back as soon as I have something to say.  In the meantime, keep working at the solution guys!

For those who don't know, the odd collection of characters after my name hold the secret principle of Bessler's wheel, encoded for now, and deciphered by myself some three years ago from Bessler's papers, all availbale from my websiteat www.free-energy.co.uk

John Collins  (JC)

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Update and a short hiatus for me.

My work on my own project to reconstruct Bessler's wheel is progressing at last and I plan to complete my single mechanism test rig in the next day or so.  When and if that works as I hope, then I will build some more mechanisms and test the final wheel in the next couple of weeks.  If the test rig experiment doesn't perform as I hope, then apart from seeing if there are any further adjustments I can make which will improve the situation, I'll have to reconsider my options.  I await the results of Øystein's build with great interest, but the two of us seem to be approaching the solution from two different perspectives and who is to say whether either or both, or none of them will prove right or wrong.  There are others out there who also believe that they are on the brink of success, but it would be foolish not to remember that we have been on the brink of success for what...300 years now!

I mentioned above that I intended to add 'more mechanisms', but I did not say anything about adding the ubiquitous five!  The reason for this is that lately I have come to the conclusion (as everyone has been telling me for the last, I don't know how mnay years!) that perhaps having five mechanisms wasn't strictly necessary for a proof of principle wheel.  Bessler said, "If I arrange to have just one cross-bar in the machine, it revolves very slowly, just as if it can hardly turn itself at all, but, on the contrary, when I arrange several bars, pulleys and weights, the machine can revolve much faster..."  If my wheel turned so slowly but still continued to turn without stopping then I should consider that proof enough for me.  Then I could add sufficient to make a clear demonstration of the wheel's power.

I  have written 309 blogs and received 334,815 visitors over that time which works out at just over 1000 per blog, from more than ten countries.  I'm proud of this but it doesn't really compare with other blogs and to tell the truth I'm running out of ideas to write about.  What I thought I'd do is to leave the blog as it is for a few days to guage reaction and then leave it closed for some weeks with just a brief account of Bessler wheel on it until I have something useful to report.  That would either be some more information about my own theory or the revelation that my wheel worked.  If the information related to the latter then there would be some short period of time before I was able to say anything publicly anyway.

So it's time to take a break (not my Spanish break yet!) and see if anyone wishes me to continue writing and perhaps some will offer subjects to comment on.  

In the mean time a big thank you to all who commented, both positively and negatively - you can't have one without the other.

Best wishes to all and good luck.- and keep me informed!

JC

Look for a different principle for the solution to Bessler's wheel

After a liftetime's experience in Besslerland, one thing I have learned is this; there are hard and fast rules in physics and they cannot be bent or deformed to accomodate personal convictions about how Bessler's wheel worked and even though you may come up with numerous ingenious designs for gravity-eneabled wheels, they all have to be compatible with the laws of physics.  That is why I do, from time to time, suggest such things as the parametric oscillation (PO) as holding the key to the solution.

The reason why I do this is because I want to get people thinking about how it might be achieved without going the 'over-balancing route'. This particular blog is not so much about parametric oscillation (PO) but more about the need to find a way to use gravity to drive round a wheel, that is compatible with the laws of physics, but, most importantly, leaves behing for the lessons of history, the simple over-balancing wheel.

PO is simply, swinging on a swing and maintaining the motion by altering the position of the body relative to the fulcrum or crossbar on which the swing hangs.  Oscillation by itself will simply slow down until it comes to a stop, so you need a way to generate energy to maintain the swinging. Traditionally people have sought to overbalance the wheel by moving weights inwards and outwards from the centre of rotation, but it must surely be obvious by now that, as the scientists confirm, such a method will not work.  After hundreds of years without a single runner, except for Bessler's, no show means no go, pardon the aphorism.  

Did Bessler use PO?  In my opinion,yes.  He said that simply overbalancing a wheel was a waste of time and piling more weights on simply confirmed that it would not work.  But PO doesn't simply mean overbalancing although it does form a part of the action.  First you have to generate the initial energy which is induced by allowing a weight to fall, and it isn't necessary to have it fall into a position which would overbalnce the wheel.  It's job is to move another weight of identical mass and size, into a position which will then lead to a small angle of rotation in the wheel. 

Compare this action to that of the person on a swing.  To initiate movement the swinger leans backwards to start a small angle of rotation, and then forwards to repeat the action in the opposite direction.  With the right timing, he or she, can add the force generated in the first action to the second one, thus increasing the distance rotated back and forth.  The rider's action produces rotation just as the first weight does when it falls and moves the second weight.

The rider flexes his arms or pulls on them to move his body into an overbalancing position and that starts rotation so the movement of the arms is similar to the fall of the first weight.  Separate from the arms is the body which is equivalent to the second weight.  In the case of the sitting swinger, when he leans back, his weight is moved behind the fulcrum, thus moving the swing seat forward; and then he leans forward to bring his body weight in front of the fulcrum thus pushing it rearwards again.  

A more efficient method for our purposes is for the swinger to stand on the seat.  In this case he moves his body weight closer to the fulcrum and further from it dependant on whether he is swinging forwards or backwards. Of course he still needs to start the movement by altering his body position to the front or rear of the fulcrum, then he can adopt the rise and fall method This is more efficient use of the rider's energy.  In Estonia, as I have mentioned several times over the years, they have a national sport called in Estonian 'Kiiking'. In this case the swing has rigid ropes made of steel and the rider is fixed by his feet to the swing seat and this permits him to swing back and forth with increasing momentum until he completes a full turn and several afterwards.  In competitions the Estonians lengthen the steel ropes which makes it much more difficult to generate a full turn.

It is this technique that I am sure we can turn to our advantage and I believe is what Bessler incorporated within his wheels.

However if you do ot subscribe to this theory then you must find an alternative that does not depend entirley on simple overbalancing and as far as I know the only other potential techniques currently being studied either avail themselves of the centrifugal/centripetal force generated in turning the wheel, or David Cowlishall's Gyroscopic Inertial Thrust (GIT!).

JC

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Prize Funding for Alternative Energy sources - no matter how bizarre?

I have remarked, on occasion, that the funds which would be welcomed in Bessler wheel research are not available nor will they ever be until a proof of principle wheel is produced.  However, it is clear that there are dozens if not hundreds of prizes on offer for the person or persons who succeed in designing and constructing and developing alternative energies or finds a way to store energy cheaply and efficiently.

For instance:-

"The Zayed Future Energy Prize is an annual award which celebrates achievements that reflect impact, innovation, long term vision and leadership in renewable energy and sustainability. The Prize represents the vision of the Late Founding Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who championed environmental stewardship.

"Through the Zayed Future Energy Prize, the United Arab Emirates has been honoring those who have placed a tangible and evident effort in globally advancing renewable energy and sustainable technologies. One of the greatest unifying challenges the world faces today is the urgency to address climate change, promote sustainable development and encourage innovation in renewable energy technologies.

"Each year, an individual, organization or a non-governmental agency is recognized for groundbreaking achievement in developing and deploying solutions to our future energy needs. The following represents a breakdown of the Prize categories:-

"Large Corporation (A recognition award)

SME (US$1.5 million)

NGO (US$1.5 million)

Lifetime Achievement Award (US$500,000)

A Global High School Prize (US$100,000 divided amongst 5 regions – Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania)"  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayed_Future_Energy_Prize

Or this one:-

"The Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy, whose purpose is to acknowledge, publicize and disseminate outstanding ideas and achievements in research related to the science, engineering, technology and commercialization of renewable energy. Nominations may address a wide range of topics involving renewable energy and energy efficiency with a demonstrated or clear potential global impact. The award is designed to recognize and reward the impact of specific ideas or achievements, rather than a lifetime of achievements in the field.

They offer the Leigh Ann Conn Prize in Renewable Energy Research which consists of the award of a medal and a cash prize of $50,000.  Ideas eligible for nomination may have an individual author or multiple authors; however, the total cash prize will be shared in the case of multiple authors."

http://www.conncenter.org/leigh-ann-conn-prize/

Or this one:-

"The goal of the Energy & Environment Prize Group is to generate breakthroughs in clean energy, climate change, energy distribution/storage, energy efficiency/use, and water resource management. Advances in these fields will lead to greater sustainability and efficiency, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels."

http://www.xprize.org/prize-development/energy-and-environment

Gregg Maryniak is the Chairman of the Energy and Environmental Systems Track of Singularity University and the Secretary of the X PRIZE Foundation. He wrote:-

"If you read newspapers, blogs and other popular reports on renewable energy, you are very likely hearing almost exclusively about power generation advances in solar cell or wind turbine efficiency or ways to reduce production costs.   But exciting as these steps are, an examination of where our energy comes from today shows that even after decades of improvement in renewable energy systems, more than 95% of the energy in the United States is still provided by fossil fuels, nuclear power and traditional hydropower.   So, what is missing from the present picture that could dramatically advance the use of renewable energy?  

"Economical energy storage.

"The phenomenon of the world's so-called addiction to fossil fuels is actually an aspect of a greater underlying energy truth.  What society really wants and needs is energy on demand."

And finally, although there are literally hundreds to choose from:-

"The Anzisha Prize – Africa’s foremost entrepreneurial awards which reward young African entrepreneurs – has now included a $10 000 USD Energy Prize in addition to the $75 000 USD in cash prizes already up for grabs.

"The award has been made possible thanks to the Donor Circle for Africa, a group of Silicon Valley Community Foundation donors supporting individuals and non-profit organisations committed to making a difference to improve the lives of the people in their community. The $10,000 Energy Prize supplement to the 

Anzisha Prize will be awarded to an applicant who demonstrates ingenuity in developing sustainable renewable energy sources.

"Qualifications for a winning project are that:

"It provides an affordable, sustainable source of energy generation. Energy can be based on any type of renewable resource such as wind, solar, geo-thermal, bio-sources, water and others (what others?).

"It is locally sustainable. The project must be built, operated, and maintained by the people and resources available in the community it serves.It has applicability in a broad range of communities across Africa. While the project must be locally sustainable, the resources and technology must not be so unique that it cannot be replicated. Other communities could implement the model given access to reasonably common resources. It is innovative either in the technology (a new or more efficient way of producing power) or in the application (adapting methods or technology to generate or store power in a new way)."

http://www.anzishaprize.org/

With all this money sloshing about you could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps some of it might be pushed in our direction.  Don't get me wrong - I don't crave money for research, I'm just puzzled at the apparent complete ignorance of our work here.  I know it is viewed with scorn buy the vast majority of those who seek to help develop new forms of energy, but when you consider the following areas of research being investigated it does make you wonder

"One day, you may use sugar to power your laptop; bacteria to run your car; or dead bodies to heat a building; trap the the solar wind and beam electrons to earth via a infrared laser beam, process feces and urine, collect vibrations from traffic, process sludge into biomass, protein from jellyfish, "exploding lakes", so-called because they contain huge reservoirs of methane and carbon dioxide, trapped in the depth by difference in watere temperature and density etc etc!

http://news.discovery.com/tech/alternative-power-sources/ten-bizarre-sources-alternative-energy.htm

JC

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Could Bessler have found a better path in which to successfully sell his machine?

I was musing on the problems Bessler must have contemplated once he had first completed his wheel.  Considering his lowly position on the social ladder, he faced an uphill task to attract the right kind of attention to his new machine in order to find a potential buyer.  I cannot think of any other avenue which might lead to success other than the one he took, which was to display the wheel turning.

The reactions to this event were predictable, but he did not work out how to improve the effect, until he met Gottfried Leibniz, who visited him on two occasions and I imagine the discussions were roughly of this nature.

During the first meeting, having throughly examined the wheel and asked many questions and probably not received the politest of responses, Leibniz left to continue his journey, but returned subsequently with some helpful advice.  I say this about the second visit because there was no other reason for Leibniz's return.  He had completed his examination of the machine during his first visit and there was nothing more to be done other than to repeat the same tests.  

I think that the old man first told Bessler that showing a wheel turning, but not doing anything other than move some stampers wasn't convincing and he had to show it doing proper work, such as raising a heavy weight or turning an archimedes screw.  People had to relate the wheel's use to something who's value they could easily appreciate.

Secondly he told Bessler that having the wheel mounted on two sets of supports and demonstrating the wheel on first one then the other, while allowing examination of both sets before and after, would greatly improve people's trust in his claim that there was no trickery involved.

Thirdly he asked if Bessler could build a wheel which could turn in either direction, that would make the suggestion that it was driven by clockwork harder to make stick.

Fourthly, he suggested that an endurance test of several days, during which the machine was made to run continuously, would convince those who still doubted that it was worth the money being asked.  This arrangement would be best carried out in a princely castle where proper scrutiny could be arranged. This was suggested by Leibniz to Moritz-Wilhelm, Duke of Zeitz, a cousin of Karl of Hesse-Kassel, and a regular correspondent of Leibniz. His exact words to one member of the Court, "I advised him [Bessler] to arrange a test in which his machine would be run for several weeks with all possible precautions taken to exclude any suspicion of fraud."

Moritz-Wilhelm was unwilling to commit himself to overseeing an endurance test lasting some weeks but did agree to carry out an official examination of the wheel including three of Liebniz's suggestions.  Many important people were invited to the demonstration including Liebniz's former pupil, professor Christian Wolff.  This examination did expand the inventor's fame and eventually resulted in his move to Kassel where he came under the protection of Karl the Landgrave of Hesse.

I believe it that Liebniz's final suggestion was the most important one, which created the new situation.  He told Bessler that if he really wanted to be taken seriously he must allow an important prince to examine the interior of the wheel so that he could state unequivocally, "this machine is genuine and I have seen it and tested it and I say so with all the authority of my position and rank".  This prince, Liebniz said, had to have a reputation of complete honesty and be independently wealth, thus be beyond bribery.  He suggested Karl was the ideal candidate.

It becomes clear that Bessler followed the advice given him by Gottfrried Leibniz.  He designed the demonstration so as to rule out every possible accusation of cheating; made it run both ways to rule out clockwork mechanisms, had a second set of supports so that peope could examine each set; made it do proper work rather than just making it spin, by lifting a heavy weight, and turn an archimedes screw; and finally make it managed to arrange an endurance test certified by an honest host.  

I can see parallels in Bessler's life which might apply today.  Even if someone succeeds in reconstructing Bessler's wheel if he or she wishes to patent the device they are in effect sharing that information with an honest broker, just as Bessler did with Karl.  Of course if you don't wish to go the patent route - and myself and some others would prefer not to have to patent - then there is no problem with sharing your secret.

Was there anything Bessler could have done differently, given his low status and lack of funds, which might have helped him on to success?

JC

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