My Progress - an update

My current, and I hope, final attempt to reconstruct Bessler's wheel, continues.......(perpetually?)

The base of the wheel structure is still provided by an MDF disc 2 feet in diameter, to which everything is attached.  It has been divided into five equal segments  This is according to my understanding of the information left to us by Bessler.  I know that many, or most maybe, believe that it makes no difference whether you have four, five or eight segments, but I understand why five is the minimum and why any more need to be odd numbered as far as space permits.

Talking of space, my mechanisms are composed from cannibalised parts from many, many failed previous incarnations, and in an effort to conserve the rapidly diminishing number of available parts of a suitable length, I tend to use the part which is closest to my current requirement.  The result is that the mechanisms on my latest project are a little larger than intended, so that they project beyond the rim of the MDF disc.  This is not a problem from a mechanical point of view although it lacks the finesse apparent in my previous constructions.  It means that I must add a little to the height of the axle supports so that the finished article will be able to spin unencumbered by the floor of the support structure (should it feel inclined to do so!). In order to enclose the enlarged mechanisms the MDF disc would need to be 3 feet in diameter not 2, and if it comes to reproducing a more attractive wheel, that is something I shall take into consideration.

Friction among some of the moving parts has occasionally been a problem, but I resolved it a long time ago by using stiff nuts, washers and bolts, so that I can adjust the tightness to the optimum level, allowing the joints to move freely but not too loosely.  I use small disc lead weights, about the size of an old English penny, which are normally used to make curtains hang properly, and they are ideal for the size of the mechanisms.  I stack them in 5s and sometimes more to provide the necessary weights.

My previous blog about making false assumptions was inspired by my own stupid assumption!  I had designed two alternative mechanical actions, one of which I rejected about three years ago because I thought it wasn't right.  The result was that my chosen action, the other one, did not produce enough lift quickly enough to generate continuous rotation.  At that time I had not discovered what I call the Bessler/Collins principle and even after I had defined it, I ignored the one I had previously dismissed, the rejected alternative, and continued to modify the action I had chosen instead because I thought it held the most promise.  Recently I discovered my error and it prompted me to urge people to be aware of unconscious assumptions which might be in error but not immediately obviously so.

So my mechanisms are almost finished, and there will be one more procedure to accomplish before I can mount the wheel on its bearing supports and then my fingers will be crossed for success (and my eyes and legs).

I would like to explain more about my wheel, but it's difficult to say anything more without risking giving away too much information, but I think that I am close to getting it right - but haven't I; haven't we all, been here so many times before?  Anyway I hope that this will work or that it becomes clear why it won't. Then I must decide whether to publish all yet or keep trying.

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’.

Beware of making False Assumptions - and an Update.

Having spent the last 50 years or so, trying to replicate Bessler's wheel, I still occasionally err by making assumptions which turn out to be wrong.   

In the beginning I began by drawing numerous sketches of how I thought Bessler's wheel might have worked.  I assumed, rightly in my opinion, that gravity was the provider of energy. I accept that most people deny that possibility because they assume, rightly in their opinion, that gravity cannot provide the energy for the wheel's continuous rotation.  That is an assumption based on what we have been taught, but I intend to prove it to be a false one.

Having eventually ruled out most of my sketches, I began building models of parts of the various designs to see if they did indeed react as expected, or assumed.  Usually they did respond in the expected way but sometimes they didn't or they could be made to alter the response by subtly varying the angles and lengths of the various levers I employed in my designs. So my original assumptions were again sometimes wrong.  And of course even when they reacted as expected they were no good for purpose!

Clearly, if we believe in Bessler's claims then there is at least one false assumption causing our failure to replicate what Bessler did.  After the model-building had failed to elicit the correct response by my many mechanical configurations, I slowly came to the conclusion that something we ought to know about this subject was missing or had been overlooked.

Eventually I worked out what had been overlooked and immediately found corroboration in one of Bessler's clues.  A short while later I found another clue supporting the same conclusion.  Since then I have found more clues in support of my conclusion.  This is the principle I have encoded at the foot of each blog for some considerable time.

Making the mechanism which takes advantage of the principle has proved very much more difficult than I expected, but I think I have it right now, and I'm going to finish it.  I feel a little like the guy who has stated that his wheel will work within days, for at least the last two years!  I found that I had made an error in reading one of Bessler's clues, not the one concerning the principle, but one that led me up the wrong path in small way.  Correcting this error has produced the results I wanted so I'm completing the model.

The point of this blog is to say, "beware of assuming something, anything, it may not necessarily always be the whole truth".

Bessler was worried that people would think his wheel was too simple and therefore not worth the price.  I guess he was thinking of the principle that allows it to work with gravity. I, too, am amazed that no one appears to have discovered this simple fact.  But although the principle may be simple to understand, the mechanical configuration it requires to operate it, is not so simple, although once seen it will be easy to understand how it works,.  But I still remain convinced that even studying the wheel in action will not necessarily lead to an understand of the principle itself.

One last thought; someone asked me if my so-called Bessler/Collins principle would be automatically detected by simulation software and included in its response and my answer is yes, there is no reason why it shouldn't be.  As long as the required parameters are included it will respond according to the principle. It's more of an observation than a principle, I just don't know what else to call it.

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’.

The Legend of Bessler's Wheel, or The Wheel of Orffyreus

I have replaced my usual blog with a brief account of the legend of Bessler's wheel as I am  currently too busy to devote time to writing.  My apologies to my readers and I promise I will be back as soon as possible.

JC


The legend of Bessler’s Wheel began on 6th June 1712, when Johann Bessler announced that he had invented a perpetual motion machine and he would be exhibiting it in the town square in Gera, Germany, on that day.  Everyone was free to come and see the machine running.  It took the form of a wheel mounted between two pillars and ran continuously until it was stopped or its parts wore out. The machine attracted huge crowds.  Although they were allowed to examine its external appearance thoroughly, they could not view the interior, because the inventor wished to sell the secret of its construction for the sum of 10,000 pounds – a sum equal to several millions today.

News of the invention reached the ears of high ranking men, scientists, politicians and members of the aristocracy.  They came and examined the machine, subjected it to numerous tests and concluded that it was genuine. Only one other man, Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, was allowed to view the interior and he testified that the machine was genuine. He is a man well-known in history as someone of the greatest integrity, and  the negotiations between Bessler and Karl took place against a background in which Karl acted as honest broker between the warring nations of Europe; a situation which required his absolute rectitude both in appearance and in action. 

There were several attempts to buy the wheel, but negotiations always failed when they reached an impasse – the buyer wished to examine the interior before parting with the money, and the inventor fearing that once the secret was known the buyer would simply leave without paying and make his own perpetual motion machine, would not permit it.  Sadly, after some thirty years or more, the machine was lost to us when the inventor fell to his death during construction of another of his inventions, a vertical axle windmill.

However, the discovery of a series of encoded clues has led many to the opinion that the inventor left instructions for reconstructing his wheel, long after his death.  The clues were discovered during the process of investigating the official reports of the time which seemed to rule out any chance of fraud, hence the  interest in discovering the truth about the legend of Bessler’s wheel.

My own curiosity was sparked by the realisation that an earlier highly critical account by Bessler's maid-servant, which explained how the wheel was fraudulently driven, was so obviously flawed and a lie, that I was immediately attracted to do further research. In time I learned that there was no fraud involved, so the wheel was genuine and the claims of the inventor had to be taken seriously.

The tests which the wheel was subjected to involved lifting heavy weights from the castle yard to the roof, driving an Archimedes water pump and an endurance test lasting 56 days under lock and key and armed guard.  Bessler also organised demonstrations involving running the wheel on one set of bearings opened for inspection – and then transferring the device to a second set of open bearings, both sets having been examined to everyone’s satisfaction, both before, after and during the examination.

So the only problem is that modern science denies that Bessler's wheel was possible, but my own research has shown that this conclusion is wrong.  There is no need for a change in the laws of physics, as some  have suggested, we simply haven't covered every possible scenario in the evaluating the number of possible configurations. 

I have produced copies of all Bessler's publications, with English translations.  They can be obtained by clicking on the appropriate links on the right.

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’.

My fame (or notoriety) has spread!

This is a slight diversion from the usual, but it is connected somewhat fraily.

My eldest grand daughter Amy, has bought a puppy, well he is almost full grown now at 17 weeks! He is a Vizsla - not a dog I'd ever heard of before, but a beauty - but she has called him 'Bessler'!  She has done this because out of all of our family she is really the only one who has consistently supported me and my strange obsession with Johann Bessler, (apart from my wife of course).

at 8 weeks

at 14 weeks!

17 weeks.

These dogs are rare, but there is a Vizsla community and coincidentally they meet once a week not far from where my granddaughter lives, so they all meet in the local park, and of course the question arises, 'why do you call your dog Bessler?' Amy then explains all about me and Bessler and his perpetual motion machine - and they are really interested, (according to Amy) and are spreading the word!  What a strange way to get known!

They are known as velcro dogs because they stick like velcro to their master (or mistress).  It has to be seen to be believed.  Any way Amy has just finished 4 years at Uni and starts her first post as a teacher at a school near here.. How good is that, for us to have a qualified teacher who believes in Bessler?

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’

An interesting paradox - what is right?

I have spent most of my life researching the legend of Bessler's wheel and I am convinced that his claims were genuine, But even I, have on occasion wondered if I have been fooled by an accomplished swindler.  Could it be that, despite all the circumstantial evidence that seemed to show that the machine was genuine and nobody lied, actually one or more people did lie?  After all it is being constantly rammed down our throats that Bessler's wheel is and was impossible and we are all fools for being easily deceived.

To get to the truth, only two people need concern us; Johann Bessler himself and Karl the Landgrave of Hesse who saw the inside of the machine and confirmed that it was genuine.  How can we tell if either or both lied?

If Bessler lied then he was taking an almighty risk.   He had engaged the attention of several people of high reputation and standing within three Princedoms. In each case he requested and received official examinations of his machine in front of Ministers, Clerks of the Court and religious leaders and of course the ruling Prince or members of his family. Any hint of duplicity and Bessler would face imprisonment and possibly execution as a deterrent to others.  He stated in his Apologia Poetica that if he was found to have lied he should be beheaded.

To secure their territory against attackers, usurpers and law breakers, the Princes dispensed justice swiftly and violently. Executions were public spectacles involving cruel methods. In addition, capital punishment was not reserved solely for the most serious crimes. Death was the penalty for a variety of minor offenses.  Bessler must have believed that he would be executed if he was found to be lying, so it seems obvious to me that he only told the truth about his machine.

One form of execution popular in Germany was the breaking wheel.  It was also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel.  'It was a torture device used for capital punishment from Antiquity into early modern times for public execution by breaking the criminal's bones/bludgeoning him to death. As a form of execution, it was used from "Classical" times into the 18th century; as a form of post mortem punishment of the criminal, the wheel was still in use into 19th-century Germany.'  I can imagine someone might find that means of execution highly appropriate! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_wheel

But if, for the sake of argument, we assumed he lied, how was he expecting to get his financial reward and leave without being arrested and thrown in jail?  He couldn't just run; the deal was that the buyer and the seller sit around a table and the purchaser puts a bag of money on the table and takes the wheel.  It seems to me that it would have been impossible for Bessler to leave without the wheel being opened and inspected and verified.  This thought must have been considered, before he went ahead with the negotiations.

All the above notwithstanding, if Bessler had lied then either he fooled Karl or Karl lied too.  Yet we know from well-documented history that Karl was regarded as an honest man of tremendous integrity.  He was in constant touch with the Kings of England, Sweden and Prussia, acting as an honest broker attempting to negotiate peace between these warring nations.  He was also known for his patronage of the latest scientific experiments.  He supported Dennis Papin in his steam powered experiments for several years and also financed a number of other fields of research.  This man was no fool and would have thoroughly scrutinised Bessler's wheel before giving it his approval.

So we know that Karl did not lie either, but let us again suppose that he did, just for arguments's sake. If Karl lied then he must have foreseen that at some point someone would offer to buy the wheel.  If the machine was a fake that fact would soon emerge and Karl would be found out, along with his accomplice, Bessler.  His reputation would be gone, his status as an honest broker ruined, his family the laughing stock of Europe.  It simply does not make sense.

We are left with a paradox; the wheel worked as Bessler claimed, but the laws of physics as they are currently understood say that it is impossible for a wheel to rotate continuously under the influence of gravity alone.  Bessler told the truth therefore the laws of physics are wrong on this point at least.

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’

Bessler's Septagram/ Heptagram

When I described my findings on the MT 137 figure on my website at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/mt_137_a.html
I showed how it represented the musical circle of fifths publicised by Johann David Heinichen, 1683-1729, a famous German musician who lived and worked in Weissenfels at the same time as Bessler.  See the first two figures below.  MT 137 on left, modern version of Heinichen's circle of fifths to the right

In part two of the same page of the website at
http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/mt_137_part_two.html, I showed how Bessler had included a hidden septagram or heptagram, which is a seven-pointed star drawn with seven straight strokes, and sometimes drawn inside a circle.  Deleting the black lines on the original MT 137, or circle of fifths illustration, as in the middle figure below, and redrawing them to skim the edge of the inner black circle produces a heptagram, as shown in the third figure below.   This geometric figure has numerous associations with occult and religious symbolism, but lack of space prevents those discussions here at this moment.

What I had not appreciated was just how difficult it is to draw a circle with seven equal divisions, and that means that the inclusion of the heptagram in MT 137 cannot be considered as a coincidence, but is deliberate.  A circle divided into seven equal segments has seven interior angles of 51.428571 degrees.  This makes it impossible to get an accurate measured angle and there is no system available using ruler and compass, although you can get an approximation by dividing the circumference by seven and walking a set of compaases around it, or simply dividing the circle into seven angles of 51.5 degrees. I drew a heptagram and tried inscribing a circle within it to match the inner circle in MT 137, it is not at all easy!

The two figures lend themselves to a simple code - draw the connecting lines from one point numbered 1 and then follow the logical progression clockwise or anticlockwise and you get, for instance in the septagram,
1 to 4
4 to 7
7 to 3
3 to 6
6 to 2
2 to 5
5 to 1 .  The same applies to the dodecagram using the numbers 1 to 12.

Curiously the sides of the Great Pyramid is said to have a slope angle which is close to one-seventh of a circle, i.e. 51.4°, so I guess a reasonable approximation could be 51.5 degrees.

The number 51.42857 contains six repeating digits of 1/7, and is the best-known cyclic number in base 10. If it is multiplied by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, the answer will be a cyclic permutation of itself, and will correspond to the repeating digits of 2/7, 3/7, 4/7, 5/7, or 6/7 respectively.

1 × 142,857 = 142,857
2 × 142,857 = 285,714
3 × 142,857 = 428,571
4 × 142,857 = 571,428
5 × 142,857 = 714,285
6 × 142,857 = 857,142
7 × 142,857 = 999,999

The last one, 7 times, is a surprise..  (found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/142857_(number)  )

So another mystery beckons - why did Bessler include a heptagram in MT 137?  5 or 7 mechanisms?

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’

Update.

Ok, so I'm not selling up and moving house after all!  We both admitted to each other that we didn't really want to leave this house and we have been unable to find one we like as much, so we've cancelled the sale.  No villa in Spain either, at least not until the wheel works!

My current build incorporates the principle I discovered two or three years ago, and it's proving difficult to get it to perform correctly.  I know it is in the right place and it operates as I think it should but it is not causing the weight to 'shoot up' quickly enough, as Bessler described it.  I feel confident that I will get the configuration right in time but now that I am free of the house-moving troubles I can get on with playing with variations on the leverage to generate enough lift to move the weight upwards quickly.  The speed of the lift will affect the wheel's speed - too slow and it will have a braking effect.
  

I have always insisted that there are five mechanisms, but it was interesting to learn that the sound of the Kassel wheel was described in a newspaper report as making seven or eight bumping noises.  This fits in with my belief that there have to be an odd number of mechanisms and therefore  includes the possibility of seven as described by me on my web site at

 http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/mt_137_part_two.html

Having said that, according to my own work on deciphering Bessler's clues, there are many more potential sources for various mechanical noises, and the seven or eight reported sounds must either be ignoring the lesser ones, or they have all been silenced in some way.  I note that the early wheels were remarkable for the amount of noise coming from them when they turned.  Bear in mind that Bessler said he had tried to dampen the sounds with felt on some occasions and this seems to lend support to the idea 

And another thing, Karl reported that the design of the wheel was very simple, but I am aware of the principle that permits the force of gravity to drive the wheel without conflicting with the laws of physics and  I do not think he could possibly have understood all of what he was seeing.  It would not have been at all obvious even to someone as intelligent as he was.  I suspect that Bessler showed him the internal workings without pointing out the particular features which make the wheel comply with the principle I mentioned earlier.  It will easily escape attention unless you know what you are looking for.

My wheel is quite complex, in that it has several components which interact with each other and it is this interaction which is causing me problems in finalising one perfect mechanism whose precise configuration I can transfer to the other four to produce an exact copy of Bessler's wheel.  Confidence is high!

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’

How Many Ways might there be to Solve Bessler's wheel? Update.

It has been said many times that even when we solve Bessler's wheel, we won't know for sure whether it will be the same design as his. Perhaps this doesn't matter but it seems an unlikely conclusion to me anyway.  I have known the principle or trick, if you like, to the secret of Bessler's wheel, for  a couple of years and I am certain that the principle I'm referring to is a vital part of the configuration; without its use the wheel will not spin.

I also know that if I hadn't found it, I would still suspect that there would only be one way to make gravity able to drive the wheel and therefore whoever solved the problem would still require this particular specific principle to be incorporated in its construction.  So for his wheel to work, Bessler must have known and used the same principle and therefore anyone having to use this same principle would result in a duplication of Bessler's wheel. If you consider that for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, man has sought the answer to this riddle, as far as we know, without success except for the once, there can surely only be one principle involved and therefore only an extremely limited number of ways it can be used - and maybe only one way.

I have give some consideration to potential alternative ways it might be used and I suspect that it might be possible to use it in a reactionless drive.  How this might be achieved using the principle I have in mind is beyond my engineering skills to make, although I have sketched some ideas.  When you consider that in Bessler's wheel you are attempting to convert the downward linear force of gravity into a rotational one, then it doesn't seem too big a jump to assume that you could reverse it and use a rotational drive to create linear thrust.  Of course I am fully aware that to date, no reactionless drive has ever been validated under properly controlled conditions but then neither has a gravity-driven wheel. It seems that a consequence of building either one would conflict with Newton's third law, (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction), however the same principle which I think will work for Bessler's wheel should be available for use in the opposite direction and we are all working to prove Bessler's wheel because we believe it was genuine.  If the consequences of Newton's third law can be circumvented in one direction then it should also be possible in the other.

I guess you are asking, if I know the principle why have I not created a working model by now?  A reasonable question and I shall try to answer it.  I know and understand the principle and the reason why it will work, and I'm confident that everyone will agree with me when I explain it.  But finding out how to use it has proved more difficult than I imagined when I first found it.  I have over the last couple of years, through a combination of hands-on building, trial and error, and successfully teasing out the desired information from Bessler's drawings I have at last arrived at the correct configuration, and I am completing my final construction.  

My intention is to finish this model and - if it works - then I can finally publish the details.  If it doesn't work, I shall also publish the details of the principle and also the extracted information from the particular drawings I used. I'll explain how I arrived at my conclusions and let someone else carry it forward.  I will do this because I am certain that I have everything right, but who knows?  Perhaps the quality of my workmanship might result in a less than continuous motion.

I understand with the utmost clarity that the vast majority of readers here, will think I'm deluded and I don't blame you.  But, I am fed up with constructing endless stationary wheels and I want to share the only bit of real information that I do have, the principle!  But allow me, please to just finish this last attempt to build a working model.

The reason for my belated apparent haste after many years of procrastination, is because we are planning to sell our current home and buy a smaller one here and maybe a small villa in Spain, where we can try and avoid the miserable winters in England.   This means that my current project will suffer an extended hiatus  The house is being tidied up for sale and my workshop is suffering the same fate - being tidied up and all my work hidden away. If this one fails to rotate continuously and drive another device, then I will publish everything as video, digital and printed documents within the next few weeks.

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’

What Secret Lies within Bessler's Portraits?

This is an interim blog which I decided to write concerning recent speculation about the Bessler portraits.

There has been much discussion about the two portraits of Johann Bessler.  Do they contain hidden information and what that information might tell us?

In extracting meaning from Bessler's portraits it can sometimes be helpful to try and put yourself in his shoes.  What information was he trying to convey?

Personally, I don't see how he could transmit sufficient information about how to reconstruct his wheel from anything he contrived to hide in his portrait or portraits, so what do all the apparent clues mean? I am expressing my personal opinion here and I have published what I have been able to discover about the portraits at
http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/bessler_s_portrait.html.and here http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/part_2_portrait.html and
also here http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/2nd_portrait.html

The only facts that we can reliably extract are the quirky finger gesture which seems to point at some hidden meaning and the odd writing below the portrait which contains some alphanumeric clues and some curious font variables, plus the objects within the portraits, some indicating memento mori, and of course there is the pentagon, but all of these details seem to lead us to a dead end.  These vague hints seem to point to some secret knowledge relating to the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits or some other secret organisation.  They are definitely clues, but with this sketchy information it seems impossible to understand what he is trying to say. 

Approaching the puzzle from a different angle, I think that if Bessler wished to give us the information it, had to be in the form of detailed construction information in a separate place elsewhere, and maybe he designed the portraits to tell us where to look.

So where would we be likely to find the information that Bessler might be trying to point us to?Obviously the most important source would be drawings because a picture is worth a thousand words, but if its textual clues you want then you won't find a better place than his Apologia Poetica.  I have described some of my findings in my web site at 

http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/aps_chapter_55.html 

So somewhere in the design of the portraits lies a series of clues which may lead us to the source of the real secret - how to build a Bessler wheel..

JC

10a2c5d26e15f6g7h10ik12l3m6n14o14r5s17tu6v5w4y4-3,’