If Johann Bessler had Sold his Perpetual Motion Machine.

I wonder what changes might have occured to the world in which we live if Bessler had sold his machine.  There were only two potential purchasers; the first being Karl the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the other, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia.  There was a third, the Baron Anton von Mannsberg, Bessler’s landlord in later years, who ordered the inventor to build another copy of his machine, but once again circumstances beyond his control prevented the examination of the model and it was finally lost to us.

Karl was a clever man, intensely interested in the latest discoveries in science theory and fact.  He financed research into astronomy and numerous other areas of the burgeoning field of scientific investigation, as well as his steam experiments with Denis Papin. Despite his initial interest in Bessler's machine he was more interested in Newcomen’s steam engine and I think he knew Bessler’s wheel would not do to pump water up the 300 metres necessary to feed the cascade. The fact that Newcomen's machine would not have coped either,  was probably realised quite quickly as reservoirs for collecting water at the top of the hill were planned before his death and they are still functioning today.

But Peter, the Czar, was another who looked into the future and sought help in every field of science and technology.  He was on his way to examine Bessler’s wheel when he died. Professor Christian Wolff had been invited to St Petersburg to head up the university recently founded by Peter and one of Wolff’s requirements was that he be involved in developing Bessler’s wheel.  So both potential purchasers failed to complete.

Peter was the best chance of securing the machine for future generations and would have succeeded in developing a useful version with Wolff's help.  Despite the much more powerful machine designed and built by Thomas Newcomen, Bessler's wheel was so much cheaper and more easily constructed, and given the poor state of technology in Russia at that time, it is likely that Bessler's machine would have thrived. During the subsequent 300 years it is inconceivable that new uses and developments would not have ocurred.

Elsewhere, the year 1701 saw the opening of the Navigation School in tMoscow; in 1715 it was moved to St. Petersburg, where it became the foundation for the Navy Academy. Later it was followed with Engineering, Artillery and Medical schools.

The St. Petersburg Academy opened on the initiative of Peter I in 1725 and played a great role in formation and development of the Russian science.  Originally the Academy was mostly based on foreign scientists such as Professor Christian Wolff, who were willing to work in Russia.

It is clear that Bessler's machine would have become something of a workhorse in areas unsuited to the development of the much more complex Newcomen machine.  But what if any, form would it take today and for what purpose?

I would have thought that given the introduction of electricity to Russia in 1876, when the first power station was built, and in 1879 electric street lighting was installed in St. Petersburg, (only a year or two after the the USA, France and England), it would not have taken long for the same development process which was happening around the world, to have taken place in Russia too.

Who knows what additional uses might have been discovered which might have pushed some of the later inventions into a lower position iin the world of technology?

I don't wish to go over old ground too often but here are a few of my previous blog referring to alternative used for Bessler's wheel.

Friday, 27 July 2018                   

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Friday, 6 March 2015

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Friday, 15 January 2010

JC

The "TOYS" Page Reviewed

When Johann Bessler was arrested he destroyed any drawings which explained how his wheel worked, but he still arranged to leave a number of drawings which he felt would lead someone with the right credentials to the solution....eventually.

The torrent of text speculating about something he wrote or drew and what it might mean, is fascinating but in my opinion, so far from the inventor's actual meaning and ultimate intention as to be beyond any likelyhood of revealing the solution.  There are clues written within the text but they are ambiguous and hard to make sense of but I’m certain that in the end they will be found to make sense within the laws of physics - they have to, because there cannot be any reason or sense in trying to circumvent them.

In Das Triumphirend, Bessler makes some interesting comments which may have been largely ignored.  I have added my own theory about the meaning of the 'Toys' page after the following.  He wrote.

"In a machine such as mine, ..... the motive force, the ability to move itself and drive other objects makes up the FORM of the device, without which its framework is just any old heap of material, which has completely lost its essence.  To cause the machine to stop requires the application of a greater external force, and can be accomplished without difficulty whenever one requires it, e.g. for the machine’s longer conservation.  Such a cessation can also occur through the (page 216) wearing-out or breaking of the machine’s parts.  The first is a “moral accident”, the second a “material accident.”  As an example of the ideas I am discussing, consider the case of two small metal spheres, one of iron and one of lead.  For both of them, their FORM consists in their regular sphericity.  But we find that, placed in a furnace, one loses its shape quicker than the other.  Therefore the greater or lesser “meltability” of such spheres is not the result of “sphericalness” – common to both – but of the physical characteristics of the two materials.  And it is this “material accident” which is the FORMAL CAUSE of the difference.        

"I must stress that if a Perpetual Motion machine of the type I have described really is in conformity with the demands of the most eminent mathematicians and (page 76) engineers, then it really deserves to have the Perpetual Motion appellation no matter how fragile the material from which it is constructed.  The case is no different from that of a leaden or even waxen sphere.  They are both as perfectly deserving of the description “sphere” as is an iron one, despite the fact that the latter will withstand fire and other attacks better than the two former.  For form gives the essence of the thing."

So what can we glean from these comments? It is interesting that he capitalises the word FORM and uses bold type to reinforce the idea.  He implies that FORM can be more important than the material it is constructed from.  My own efforts to make sense of the "Toys" page, sometimes referred to recently as MT138 although it is actually MT 138,139,140 and 141, have led me to believe that the figures shown on the page simply show the FORM.  He actually uses the word 'FORMA' in both the German and the Latin text which translates into FORM or SHAPE or APPEARANCE.

So, examining the "Toys" page, in my opinion, it is wrong to assume that item 'A' represents a Jacob's Ladder.  It is actually telling you that there are five mechanisms each having a form or shape, similar to that of items 'C' and 'D', but not working as they do. Each of the five items in 'A' are not part of what appears to be a Jacob's Ladder. Item 'B' has no connection with item 'A, even though it may appear to. It is telling you that each of the five items' in 'A' have a single twist to their design.  The same information is repeated in items 'C' and 'D'. 'C' shows you the form of the mechanism and 'D' repeats it with the same twist. 

Item 'E' includes an additional piece of information about the form. It's form or shape is present in the final mechanism shape, but as Bessler states in a handwritten note, " 5. Children's game in which there is something extraordinary for anyone who knows how to apply them in a different way."  The number 5 refers to the five labelled parts 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' and 'E', and his comment relates to those same parts.  This supports my conclusion that the figures shown are not intended to be used as you see them, but they should "be applied in a different way". For more on this see my blog of  Wednesday, 22 March 2017.  (Johann Bessler's Graphic Clues)

 In his quote above Bessler says that the two spheres are made of two different materials but they are still spheres.  Their differences are not apparent at first sight, but they each have different characteristsics and behave differently under certain circumstances, so at first sight might be misconstrued.

So in my opinion he is saying that FORM or SHAPE is important but two similar shapes may have different characteristics or to put it another way, is, use the SHAPE you see on the paper but don't assume that you understand the way that shape will function and is the way the inventor intended.  This is hard to explain. Just because item 'A' on the 'TOYS' page looks like a Jacobs ladder, don't assume that is what it is.  Separate the component parts, try merging them to get the intended design but retain the obvious differences.

This digression in DT is there for a reason and I think it is a hint to look at the drawings but don't make any assumptions abut their actions.

JC

HAPPY NEW YEAR! ..Welcome Bessler's Wheel in 2019.

My usual New Year message expresses the hope that the coming year will see the solution to Johann Bessler's Wheel, but this time I'm actually predicting that the solution will be found!

In a previous post I asked if Johann Bessler foretold the year of the reappearance of his wheel? I asked this because he published a panegyric to Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, dated 2019.  This seemed an odd date to seemingly pluck out of the air for no apparent reason, but it did relate to the year 1719 when he published it, although 300 years out!  He also dated others, 1519, 1619, 1819 and 1919.  Hedging his bets? Some people have suggested that Bessler obtained knowledge of the future of his wheel from his subconscious mind.   I’m sure it was a coincidence, but a happy one for us because I am firmly convinced that this year, 2019, will see the reappearance of a working Bessler wheel.

In recent years I have become fairly confident that I knew how his wheel worked, but not in precise detail.  I shared my design with someone who pointed out the defects in the design, and any doubts I had about its validity were confirmed. However this year I have been familiar with the current design for several months but have been unable to do much of any work on it due to other more urgent calls on my time but  I have had plenty of time to dwell on it, consider it and turn it over and over in my mind. Once the new year is under way I intend to work hard on completing the device according to the design I have worked out from Johann Bessler's clues.

But as I always say, I've been wrong before and I could be wrong again. But I have deciphered many clues and I'm confident that my interpretations are correct, which is why I feel more confident than I have ever been before that this coming year will see Bessler's wheel working once again.  Later this year I will publish what I know, with or without an actual working model, including photos of it. Then I shall publish the book I've been working on for the last few years, explaining all of the clues I have deciphered and why they lead to the solution.

So....fingers crossed Bessler's Wheel might just reappear in 2019.

JC

Why did Johann Bessler Use So Many Codes?

Enormous amounts of text have been published concerning Johann Bessler's clues. I am as guilty as anyone in publishing my own findings, views and opinions. But as time has passed I believe I have come to understand Bessler's purpose in placing so many apparently pointless pieces of code in every conceivable place and in every kind of code known to man, or so it seems.  So why is there so much of it, when none of it appears to be of any use in discovering the solution?

The reason is, in my opinion, that Bessler wanted to make sure that someone who was familiar with a particular code would recognise a bit of it when he saw it and realise that perhaps there was more to be discovered. But it would take a considerable amount of effort to discover the final message for the simple reason that Johann Bessler contrived a new code system unique to himself, and one that would take anyone unfamiliar with the field of codes, forever if not several years of trying, to solve it.  But an expert in the field of cryptography might more quickly decipher the hidden message.

Consequently we perceive an avalanche of codes each of which is a recognised form of cipher, each capable of attracting the attention of someone with a special knowledge of that particular type of code.  I suggest he did this because he wasn't sure if anyone would even suspect the existence of coded information, or to put it another way, he wanted to attract the attention of anyone with a good knowledge of codes.  He could have stated that there was coded information within his books, but if it was too simple, that might have resulted in someone deciphering the information before he had sold his secret.

So we have alphanumeric, alphabetic substitution, Caesar shifts, Rosicrucian, Baconian, Hebrew Atbash and Albam, Pythagorian and Plato codes, geometric and algebraic codes, chronograms and  John Dee's Language of Angels; the list seems endless and yet pointless if there is no forward progress in deciphering his meaning.  But the whole purpose was get someone to look for a different code and then try deciphering it. But are there any other codes? There is indeed Johann Bessler's own ingenious code, so far undeciphered and barely recognised. The details of one of them that I have worked on can be seen here http://www.orffyreus.net/ 

Unfortunately I haven't made any progress in deciphering it other than that which I have decribed on the web site. From the evidence I have described, the existence of the code is undeniable.

Others I have found and interpreted can be seen at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/ 

I believe I have managed to decipher one of them, but it is a work in progress and one I first began to understand about two or three years ago.  I am confident that I am making progress and what ever happens, 2019 seem to be the most appropriat year to publish it.

JC

Was Bessler Prescient About the Year 2019?

Here we are on the brink of 2019 and, as I have done every year since I don’t know when, I think that this coming year we will succeed in replicating Bessler’s wheel.  This next piece of information causes a frisson of expectation.  

I have a copy of a document, a panegyric addressed to Karl annually, but it has something unique.  As many will know, Bessler was very fond of chronograms, which is a phrase or inscription in which letters such as M, C, X, L, and V can be read as Roman numerals giving a date. He provides dozens and dozens of them in some of his documents and curious as they are they don’t appear to hold any coded information.

This particular one includes the year.........2019! He also wrote them for 1519, 1619, 1719, 1819.and 1919.  But why 2019?

 Here is a close up of the part for 2019,

 As you can see, there are plenty of chronograms which each add up the relevant year they are attached to.  I have attempted a translation of each piece of text but there seems little of import, as far as I can tell.

Each of the above has a quote from the Bible, but using just the one for the year 2019, Hebews 13;5 it says,

 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

So, nothing but sound religious advice, but my suspicious mind still suspects that there could be more to this than meets the eye. But years of paranoia on my part probably affects my opinion!

Anyway there it is for your perusal.  Any opinions welcomed.

JC

Maybe Bessler’s Wheel COULD Solve Global Warming.

Sir David Attenborough at COP24, Katowice, warns, 

“Civilisations are going to collapse and much of nature will be wiped out to extinction if humanity doesn't take urgent action on climate change.”

The warning came as Sir David took the "People's Seat" at the opening of the conference, as part of a UN initiative that aims to give normal people a voice at the international climate talks.

Sometimes it feels though I live on another  planet - maybe I do! I read and hear all the warnings about global warming and I think maybe we have something which might help to reduce it or at least bring the rise in temperature to a stop.  I know that the central aim of the Paris agreement was to strengthen and accelerate a global response effort in combatting the threat of climate change.  How did they intend to achieve this?

1) Keep global temperature rise “well below”, 2 degrees C, or 3.6 degrees F, above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

2) Pursue efforts to limit temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees C.

3) Limit green house gases emitted by human activity.

The rest is political nonsense; rich countries aiding poorer countries by providing “climate finance”; demanding contributions of at least 100 billion dollars towards upgrading their production facilities etc.  147 countries have ratified the agreement. The four biggest emitters of greenhouse gases - India, China, US and the European Union had signed up for it but the US has since changed its mind.

But even the biggest or the smallest emitters simply cannot comply with the agreement, so this is just so much hot air with little chance of achieving anything close.  The less developed areas of the world need their old fashioned technology before they can even contemplate spending more money than they can afford to update their industrial processes.

This website https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/  provides a good balanced view, even discussing the theory that the global warming might be caused by periodic increases in the sun's output. They offer a good argument against this being a factor in global warming, and although I admit I still subscribed to that view, their evidence is pretty convincing.

There IS a potential solution!  Bessler’s Wheel could eventually replace massive amounts of fossil burning technology.  147 countries ratified the Paris agreement, but in my opinion they can indeed talk the talk, but they simply can’t walk the walk, without knowing or finding some additional way of generating electricity (for instance) A brave aspiration but impractical without pre-industrial technology such as Bessler's wheel!

 JC

Today, 30th November,1745, Johann Bessler Fell to his Death.

Johann Bessler stood on the top of his latest project, a huge windmill designed to grind corn in the village of Fürstenberg. The windmill was of an unusual design, having a vertical axis which meant it could turn in the wind regardless of which direction the wind came from.

It was designed to be supported on a massive lower structure and although it was never finished it was expected to rise some 50 feet in height.  Unfortunately for Bessler, the committee who requisitioned the device insisted that it must be built on the lower levels of the hillside within the village itself.  This position was too sheltered according to Bessler and he argued that it should be positioned on top of the hill where it could take advantage of the winds which blew more strongly and consistently.  But the local authority insisted and Bessler complied.
 http://www.orffyreus.org/              see interior and exterior photos, and floor plan

Bessler was struggling to finance the build and despite frequent letters to the council leaders for more building materials, as well as additional funding, little help was forthcoming.  Some letters he wrote have survived and it clear from them that he was regarded as something of a nuisance and his employers were unwilling to put themselves out on his behalf.

On November 30th, 1745, Johann Bessler fell to his death from the top of the half-built windmill. We know that he and his family were starving and cold.  It was late in the year and the prospects of completing his windmill looked increasingly poor and even if he had managed to complete, his own opinion was that it might not have been as effective in the milder winds in the village.

I visited the small town of  Fürstenberg in2002 and was able to visit the windmill.  It has survived ‘til now because of the huge sandstone blocks used to construct the walls.  There is little if anything left, of Bessler’s work inside although the external features are obviously according to his design. Subsequent to his death the windmill was provided as a home for the new porcelain industry which had its beginnings then.  The town of  Fürstenberg became famous for the quality of its porcelain which it has been producing since 1747.
https://www.fuerstenberg-porzellan.com/info-en/english/manufactory/history/

We can gain some idea of Bessler's predicament through this short extract from a letter he wrote  to his superior just seven months before his death;

      "I have written often and many times to you, Highly Honourable Sire, but I have not received any answer.  Meanwhile, I lack strength and will, through hunger, grief, frost and chill, because for a long time I have not received a single piece of wood from the District Magistrate.  Indeed, I have often had only dry bread to eat and water to drink.  However, at last, thank God, I have had the good luck to finish preparing the model of perpetual motion which was commissioned from England, as demanded by the Senior District Magistrate, von Mannsberg.  It was ready at midnight on April 14th, "

Notice that he  had finished a model of his perpeual motion machine (italicised in the above quote).  The model was commissioned by his landlord, Baron Anton von Mansberg, a senior member of King George's cabinet and resident in London. Unfortunately any plans von Mannsberg might have had to examine Bessler's machine were doomed by the fact that all government officials were forbidden or strongly advised not travel to the continent.  This was during 1745 and for a couple of years after, due to the threat of invasion of England by France, on behalf of the Jacobite rebellion.  By the time that danger had passed Johann Bessler had died and his machine was lost to us.

I wonder what might have happened if the Jacobites had not prevented von Mansberg's return to his home and he had been able to carry out a thorough examination of Bessler's wheel.  He was a wealthy man and held a powerfu position within the government and he was also a member of the Royal Society.  If he had become convinced of Bessler's sincerity a deal might have been struck and a gradual spread of sales of the machine, similar to the way the use of Thomas Newcomen's engine spread, might nhave happened.  Newcomen'sengines sprouted out all over Great Britain and Europe and I could see something similar happening if Bessler's wheel had been sold.  A greater expansion than Newcomen's engine might have happened because of the complexity of the Newcomen engine when compared to Bessler's wheel.

Might not this have affected our modern lives in many ways? One thinks of pollution and global warming etc,. usually blamed on the burning of fossil fuels.

JC

Do We Really Need to Break the Laws of Physics?

It has often been suggested that in order for Bessler's wheel to work, the design must break the laws of physics.

Firstly, if we believe Bessler told the truth then we must seek the solution so that  we can reconstruct his wheel.  The prize for humanity is incalculable, reducing dependence  on fossil fuels, pollution from the burning of fossil fuels; provision of a free source of energy; warmth for cold climates, air conditioning for hot climates; irrigation for desert regions and reduction of transportation costs by land and sea, to name but a few.

Do we honestly believe that Bessler’s wheel worked in some mysterious way which somehow not only broke the established laws of physics, but did so with impunity?  The so-called “Laws”  are conclusions based on repeated scientific experiments and observation over many years which have become accepted universally within the scientific community.  We must accept that however unlikely it may seem, his wheel worked according to long established principles.

Just because our calculations appear to rule out any possibility of any of the laws of physics permitting such a device to work, does not mean that we have thought of every angle, point of view or approach that might resolve this apparent paradox.

But it is only a paradox if we continue to say that Bessler's wheel  cannot work because it would defy some physical law.  Obviously it didn't and we know it worked, therefore we are missing something.  What ever that something is, it is very simple and easy to understand, because Karl the Landgrave stated as much.

JC

1969 to Present - Where Has The Time Gone?

Aged about fifteen, I wandered into the school library one cold, damp afternoon, bored and looking for something interesting to read, not really expecting to find anything but always hopeful.  I found this dusty old book entitled ‘Oddities’, and leafed through it in a kind of disinterested way.  About a hour later I suddenly remembered where I was and what I should be doing!  I grabbed the book and headed out, having already decided that I must finish the book.

The book was by Lieutenant Rupert T. Gould, well-known for his books on unexplained facts.  He was also an expert restorer of marine chronometers, the most famous being those invented by John Harrison, the man who solved the problem of finding a ship’s longitudinal position at sea.  Harrison won the famous British Board of Longitude prize of £20,000 - the same amount of money sought by Johann Bessler for the secret of his perpetual motion machine.  The reward was offered by the British Government through the 1714 Longitude Act which was the first time the government used legislation to address a specific scientific problem.

Gould included an account of ‘The Wheel of Orffyreus’, which, since those long ago days, I have come to realise, is the best account of Bessler’s wheel, (up to my own, of course!)  My own research confirmed everything he wrote about, but of course, back in 1930, he did not have the tools for research that we have now. Gould described the accusations Bessler’s maid fabricated against him and it was in her description of how she was made to turn the wheel that I first saw a glimmer of light, which I latterly understood to be proof that she lied.  It was that tiny crack in the wall of professional scepticism by the members of the elite scientific, rich and powerful men of those days that allowed me to see an alternative to the narrative that had sealed Bessler’s fate and perpetuated the idea that he was a criminal.

That brief sudden moment of clarity engendered by the impossibility of the maid’s claims against Bessler remained with me for several years until I realised I would get no resolution to my concerns until I had either tried to build a perpetual motion machine myself, or tried to find out more about Johann Bessler.

The first research involved obtaining as much information as possible from the British Museum Library, including some of Bessler’s original publications and other documents referring or relating to him.  The immediate problem confronting me was that I had no German, neither the modern kind nor the 300 year old kind.  Unphased by this seemingly insurmountable problem at the naive age of about 24, I wrote a letter to a local paper requesting assistance of anyone prepared to translate some old German documents free of charge.  Amazingly I received offers of help from six or seven people.  I settled on one man, Mike Senior, who became a life long friend but who, sadly, passed away a couple of years ago.  He was an ex-school teacher who left because he complained the kids didn't want to learn.  He had degrees in 18th C German, classic Greek and Latin plus Astrophysics and Botany!  He was a regular contributer to various  scholarly magazines and had solutions to some of the most complex  puzzles particularly those of a mathematical nature. Everything of Bessler’s which I have published was translated by Mike, other than the notes accompanying Maschinen Tractate which accomplished by fellow researcher from the USA.

I would say that since the age of 24 I have been involved in Bessler research and as I will be 74, next year, that is approaching 50 years.  I have constructed countless models each built in the hope that it would spin continuously driven purely by the force of gravity causing the falling of weights inside the wheel. Have I ever felt like giving up?  No, never because I know Bessler succeeded and it is therefore possible.

The concept is simple and Karl the Landgrave was surprised no-one had thought of it before, so it s only a matter of time.  I would have thought 50 years was time enough!

It's only been during the last three or four years that I have begun to understand how he did it, but even then it has been a hard fought battle to find some of his clues and work them out, and correct the false first impressions I got. So far all those clues found and interpreted by many people do not seem to have any relevance to a solution and only time will tell if mine are any better.   So next year?  I've lost count of the times I've suggested that, but confidence is high!

JC