The Legend of Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine. For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine the outside of it, but it’s internal workings were kept hidden. This was because the inventor feared that his design would be copied and someone else might obtain credit for all his years of hard work looking for the solution. He followed the advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, and recommended a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.

Karl the Landgrave of Hesse permitted Bessler to live, work and exhibit his machine at the prince's castle of Weissenstein. Karl was a man of unimpeachable reputation and he insisted on being allowed to verify the inventor's claims before he allowed Bessler to take up residence. This the inventor reluctantly agreed to and once he had examined the machine to his own satisfaction Karl authorised the publication of his approval of the machine. For several years Bessler was visited by numerous people of varying status, scientists, ministers and royalty. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.

Over a number of years Karl aged and it was decided that after so long it was time the inventor left the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence that his machine was genuine, Bessler failed to secure a sale and after more than thirty years he died in poverty. His death came after he fell from a windmill he had been commissioned to build. The windmill was an interesting design using a vertical axle which allowed it to benefit from winds from any directions. 

He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret of his perpetual motion machine, £20,000 which was an amount thought only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money before the buyer was allowed to view the internal workings of the machine. But those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble. 

I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 77). I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I became convinced that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books. These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published and I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal more information about his wheel.

For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites at 

http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/

Take a look at my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at 

http://www.orffyreus.net/

Also please view my video at 

https://youtu.be/5BWVKtpuzn0

It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.

The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. He implied that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that posthumous acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.


It has recently become clear that Bessler had a huge knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications. I have made considerable advances in deciphering his codes and I am confident that I have the complete design.


Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog. In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" 

This biography contains a wealth of information about Bessler himself, as well as many quotes by Bessler and letters to him or about him from many interested parties. It tells of his life up to and including his years with Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, and what happened to him later.

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica” and "Das Triumphirende...". I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings “Maschinen Tractate”, but it was originally found in the form of a number of loosely collected drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to use them in his planned school for apprentices.

You can order copies of the books from my website at 

http://www.free-energy.co.uk/

Printed books direct from the printer can be obtained from here

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/johncollins

Or from the top of the right side panel under the heading ‘Bessler’s Books’.

There are also links lower down on the right side panel.

These books contain the most important information available if you seek to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

JC

                                          

                            

Update - Where Next? A Sim? A Book?

I was getting ready to share more information but I have decided to hold back a bit longer until a sim has been successfully completed.  

The reason for this decision lies in the total lack of any sensible critical response to what I’ve posted.  My posts contain information which will lead to a successful working wheel and I’m confident that either myself or some other will succeed using the information I’ve supplied so far.  The important information which I will share once the sim has been tested includes the prime mover without which the wheel would quickly come to a stop. 

I know that my belief that Bessler’s wheel requires five, seven or nine mechanisms to work, is dismissed, but seeing as an even number of mechanisms has so far completely failed to lead to success, maybe it’s time someone looked at a mechanical arrangement combining an odd number of mechanisms in which two adjacent mechanisms work together to achieve what no other configuration has - other than Johann Bessler’s 

I’m constantly amazed that despite the ubiquity of Bessler’s references to the number 5 and 55, including changing his name to accommodate the number, that the importance of this number is dismissed, ignored or just overlooked.

I shouldn’t have assumed that people would accept my interpretation of the clues without the full background.  This allowed the clues I found and interpreted correctly to be dismissed, discounted and unproven. I was trying to save space and avoid long pages of texts and numerous illustrations, but as someone commented, it was wrong to think I should complete and publish a book explaining everything, as well as explaining it all in a blog - and if possible build a working model too.

Ken took the book route but failed to persuade anyone of the truth of his clues and interpretations; I don’t want to follow in his footsteps by producing a book with no evidence that it is correct, so a sim and a working wheel will follow as soon as possible.

I will just say this once more: when you see the explanation I’m certain you will understand immediately how and why it works - and why I’m so confident.

In the meantime I will continue to post this blog with a mixture of details of my progress, details of Bessler’s books and reminders of my clues which have the correct interpretations.

JC

Sharing Information - Part One

1) As planned I’m sharing information both here and on the Besslerwheel.com forum Besslerwheel forum . So here is the first part. All of the clues originate from the drawings and text in Grundlicher Bericht, Apologia Poetica, Das Triumphirende and Maschinen Tractate. I will try to keep the details brief and to the point so I won’t be showing where and how I obtained the answers but you can probably work out some of them.

Most people are aware of the ubiquity of the number 5 encoded in all of Bessler's publications and many don't see any significance other than perhaps a nod to some kind of mystery school teaching designed to hint at the inventor's knowledge of ancient wisdom. I don't believe that theory, I'm convinced that Bessler was passing on information.

I have always thought that there were two hard facts established about the internal workings of Bessler's wheel and one of them was that there were five mechanisms. The other was that the weights worked in pairs. All else is open to conjecture. But one certainty is that Bessler thought that this piece of information was extremely important and even encoded it in his name right from the moment he adopted the pseudonym, Orffyreus.

I’m well aware that many people dismiss my belief that Bessler used five mechanisms in his wheel but in fact I would go further than that and state that he designed wheels which all had an odd number of mechanism.  In [i]Maschinen Tractate (MT)[/i] he suggested this with the following number system, see below:-

He identifies the odd numbers as you see by placing a ‘Z’ next to the odd numbers to provide a clue.  There are other clues offering the same information that he used  5, 7 and 9 mechanisms.

The plethora of references to the number five also include a number of pointers to the pentagram.  The geometric figure is embedded in many drawings and I’ll show one below.  Bessler was familiar with the books by Euclid and in this case he referred to Euclid’s 11th proposition, which ran thus::-

“To inscribe an equilateral and equiangular pentagon in a given circle….”

In the above illustration A to C is what I call the ‘rope line’ on Bessler’s illustration  of the Merseburg wheel.  The ‘padlock line’ is the line from  C to the middle of CD. This mimics Euclid’s construction. Measure the angle CAD on Weissenstein illustration, it is 36 degrees. This is composed of the two 18 degrees angles.  The angles at C and D  are each 72 degrees. Note they align with the hatching lines on Bessler’s illustration.

The fact that the wheel includes such a clear link to Euclid’s pentagram construction confirms its presence is deliberate.

To make the point, here are three ways of confirming the pentagram within the Apologia Wheel.

….and his alternative method, and note how the red and blue lines are designed to skim the edges of the two inner circles.  Finally the white angles are 24 degrees.  24 x 3 = 72,  5 x 72 = 360.  

There is another clue in the chronograms above this wheel which points to the number 55.

2) Another of Bessler’s way of showing the importance of two number 5’s as a pair is revealed in the illustration below. 

JEEB, (his initials), J is the 10th letter, two letters E, which are the 5th letter.  He added the J and one of the Es to his forename when he succeeded in building his first PM wheel. J represents double 5, underlined by two 5’s as letter E.

JEEB using the Caesar shift becomes WRRO.  R is the 18th letter.  W 23rd letter which may only be there for the following reason, W is composed of two Roman numerals, V meaning 5.

He often, (dozens of times) hand wrote the letter W as shown below, as two Roman numerals linked together, and you can see it twice in the accompanying passage.  They are linked to point to them as pairing, but not in the same 5th segment of the wheel.

Bessler used any opportunity to put a veiled reference to these numbers.  I should also point out that the 2G’s, refers to his enemy in chief Andreas  Gärtner.  The 2 W’s refers to another enemy, Christian Wagner, the two B’s refer to the third enemy, Johann Gottfried Borlach.

3)  Although I’ve discussed the Toys page several times I’ll briefly run through some things again because they are relevant.

First there are the four numbers added to the bottom left corner - 138, 139, 140 and 141.  Was Bessler trying to reach the number 141 to get the only factors. 3 x 47, which might link to the three images on MT47? 

Was he pointing to Euclid’s 47th construction i.e, “in any right triangle, the square of the two sides connected to the right angle is equal to the square of the third side called the hypotenuse?”  Also known as the 3-4-5 right angle?

Or was it the total of 558?  558 seems meaningless unless you simply add them together to get 18.  18 being the basic number upon which all the others are multiples of, in the pentagram, thus number 5 again.

Secondly there is the carefully drawn  number 5. placed  near to the comment about children’s games.  The fact that it has full stop or period with it means it’s a standalone clue or hint, it doesn’t really relate to the number of children’s games. This is also linked to the pentagram.

Thirdly the figures in the Toys page can be divided by 5, see the image below.

I first posted a blog about this back in 2012.  Notice figure A, it is simply five copies of figure C.  Partial copies yes, but the inference is strong.  The straight line between each of the figures in A, represents a length of cord or rope.  There is one mechanism and one weight within each of the five segments of a pentagram.

Bessler says (paraphrased) that the weights work in pairs. That means one weight from each of two adjoining segments work together, but only when they are at the lowest point in rotation. This will be shown to be part of Bessler’s “connectedness principle”, but there is more to know about that.  

The reason for the inclusion of figures C and D is that they form a pair at each advance in rotation of one fifth.  When C falls, it pulls D back up a little.

The second figure D, has no arms so although it has weights i.e. an axe, it cannot move of itself, because it has already fallen - so has to be moved by another similar figure, i.e. figure C.  Note that figure D has spirals around its body, this is to show that it lies at a different angle to figure C, because it is in the adjacent 5th segment. There is a length of cord running between each of the figures in A, when the active figure C, falls, he pulls the inactive fallen figure D upwards towards its former position.

One of Bessler’s asides includes the following:- a great craftsman would be he who, as one pound falls a quarter, causes four pounds to shoot upwards four quarters.” 

Note that within the quote he mentions that there are five weights, one plus four, and each one is equal to one pound.  Secondly, one pound falls a quarter.  How do we define what he meant by a quarter? In this case he was referring to a clock - a figure he embedded in the first drawings in both Grundlicher Bericht and Das Triumphirende - and a quarter of an hour or fifteen minutes covers 90 degrees.

Even though he used the word ‘quarter' twice, and in the first instance it  referred to the 90 degrees in a clock, in the second part the word ‘quarter' also refers to a clock but this time he has confused us by using the words ‘four quarters’. ‘Four quarter’s equals ‘one whole hour’.  Each hour on a clock is divided into 30 degrees, so the words ‘four quarters’ meaning ‘one hour’ as used here equals thirty degrees.  To paraphrase Bessler’s words, “a great craftsman would be he who, as one pound falls 90 degrees, causes each of the other four pounds to shoot upwards 30 degrees.”  

You might also think it would have been better to have said that “one pound falls 90 degrees, causes one pound to shoot upwards 30 degrees”, but that would have removed the information that five weights, and therefore five mechanisms were involved, so it had to be four weights plus the one.  Twice at least, Bessler informs us elsewhere that the weight is indeed raised 30 degrees.  

This explains how a fallen weight “shoots” upwards, a 90 degree fall will be able to lift an equal weight quickly.

JC

Copyright © 2023 John Collins 

 

It’s My Birthday - 78 today!

I decided that when I was 78, I would begin to share what information I have acquired over the years, that I haven’t published before.  So today I’m 78 and ready to publish the same details both here and on the BW forum.  It will be brief and to the point, and I may not show where all the clues came from, but I can tell you that all the clues I found came from GB, AP, DT and the Toys Page in MT.  None came from Bessler’s portraits, which means that my information probably doesn’t relate to any of Ken’s, and when you see them you will understand why I have been so dismissive of his work. 

It has been 63 years at least since I first met Johann Bessler.  Then I was no more than about 15 years of age and I read and reread the account by Rupert T. Gould in his compendium of Unexplained Facts, called “Oddities” and wondered if the story was true.  At that time I reluctantly accepted that it must have been a false claim and Bessler was lying - because that was what I was taught!

A few years later, and after many attempts at drawing numerous sketches of perpetual motion machines, I happened to be in a second hand bookshop and quite by accident came across an original copy of “Oddities”.  I bought it and devoured the details avidly and almost immediately I spotted the flaw in the maid’s evidence.  

She claimed that the wheel was turned by means of a lever secreted within the supporting pillars of the wheel.  This was connected to a turning handle fixed to the wall of Bessler’s bedroom.  This lever was apparently designed to turn the wheel by applying force to the bearings on the ends of the axle.  My first thought was that it wouldn’t be possible.  The contact point was too small, the wheel was too big and heavy, and most unbelievable, for the endurance test, Bessler, his wife, his 14 year old daughter and the maidservant herself, were required to operate the wheel 24/7 for 54 days! These illuminating statements were responses to questions raised by investigators to her charge that Bessler was a fraud.  

The bearings were always open to inspection; the wheel was routinely moved from one set of support pillars to a second set, to allow the many examiners to check for such just such tricks.  There were other questions all designed to get to the truth of her accusations,  but one she was unable to answer  was the Landgrave of Hesse’s role in these events.  He had stated that the wheel was genuine and he had personally inspected it, verified that it worked and fully understood it.  He had issued a certificate saying that.  He had only allowed Bessler to exhibit the machine subject to his approval. It’s worth noting that the Landgrave was respected for a number of experiments which he had funded to aid Denis Papin with his steam engine. He was known as a man interested in keeping up with the latest scientific thinking.

So with these considerations firmly fixed in my mind I proposed to try to find out how Bessler’s wheel worked.  I was aware that I might also discover how he faked it, and that was acceptable.  But I didn’t worry that it might take a long time to find out anything useful the latest, but I didn’t think it would take this long.  I have, over many years, identified numerous clues and published many of them, but it’s only been within the last two years that I finally got to the truth and I now know how Bessler’s wheel worked.

So I hope to build a working model, or Proof of Principle in my 78th year.  My only concern is that my engineering skills and equipment might not be up to the job.  Consequently I have found some kind person to make a sim according to the design I’m working on.  Hopefully we’ll know soon if I’m right, but I’m absolutely convinced that this design is the one Bessler used……BUT as I always say, even if it fails, I’m certain that my design is 99 per cent correct so I’ll publish the details and explain how I arrived at the solution.  There will be no doubt in anyone’s mind once you see the real clues, that this design is correct.

JC

The Code to Success - Bessler’s Wheel.

Johann Bessler suggested both directly and by inference, that he had placed clues to the design of his machine in a number of places in his books as well as his unpublished work, Maschinen Tractate.  Long ago, I became determined to find them and try to understand what they meant.  

Consequently I have spent a lot of time over many years looking for and finding clues by Johann Bessler, which he deliberately inserted into the text and drawings in his published three books.  In addition I searched and found additional clues in his unpublished work, a collection of drawings demonstrating various attempts at building Perpetual Motion machines, which I called Maschinen Tractate or MT.

Many of these clues are described in my website at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/

More of my work in finding and deciphering more pieces of code can be seen at another of my web sites at http://www.orffyreus.net/ This web site explores the hidden coding system embedded within chapter 55 in his book, Apologia Poetica, or AP.

Another of my web site at http://www.orffyreus.org/ provides pictures of the remains of Johann Bessler’s windmill, from which he fell to his death in 1745.  It shows the interior as well as some his drawings showing his designs for it.  It was his final project and typically it was an advanced version of a windmill designed to use the power of the wind from any direction without having to alter its position, by utilising a vertical axle.

Finally here is link to my original web site which tells the story of Johann Bessler and his perpetual motion machine http://www.free-energy.co.uk/  Copies of all the books can be obtained from here as well as from the panel on the right of this blog. There are brief explanation of the contents of each book.  You can also acquire a copy of my book about Johann Bessler.  It contains details of every available letter or other document sent either to or from or about the inventor.  

There are a huge number of clues and codes known to myself and deciphered to my satisfaction.  I have almost completed a book with full descriptions of the clues and their meaning and they reveal exactly how Bessler configured his machine.  I intend to begin building a model soon when the current alterations to our house are completed.   After I have tried to build Bessler’s wheel according to my interpretation of his clues, I will publish my book, whether or not I’m successful with my build.

The book contains so much information that I’m confident that even if my own build should fail, I know it will put people on the right path to success.

JC

The Toys Page - 138, 139, 140 and 141

This is a brief return to the Toys page.  In past blogs I’ve speculated on the reason for the four numbers which are attached to the bottom of this page, suggesting that they referred to four pages removed, but I doubt that that is the reason, so here is another.  Why are the numbers 138, 139, 140 and 141 written on the bottom of the page?  

The number of Bible references in chapter 55 of his Apologia Poetica also totals 141. MT 47 contained the number 47 plus a mirrored image of the same number making 3 versions  The only factors of 141 are 3 times 47. The number 47 brings to mind Eulclid's 47th proposition but which can exhibit the properties of the golden ratio with some additional extras.  It describes the 345 right triangle with its accompanying squares. But apart from the golden ratio what has this to do with Bessler’s wheel?

Well, 138 + 139 + 140 + 141 = 558.  Knowing of the ubiquity of Bessler’s use of the two number 5s, 55, and the inclusion of hidden pentagrams in several drawings, I suspect it was another kind of off-the-cuff allusion to his favourite numbers.

5+5+8=18, the basic number in the pentagram from which every other one is a multiple of it, that is, 18,36, 54,72, 90 and 108.

JEEB, (his initials), J 10th letter, two letters E, 5th letter.  He added the J and one of the Es to his forename when he succeeded in building his first PM wheel.

JEEB using the Caesar shift becomes WRRO.  R 18th letter.  W 23rd letter which may only be there for the following reason, W is composed of two Roman numerals, V meaning 5.

He often, (dozens of times) hand wrote the letter W as shown below, as two Roman numerals linked together, and twice in the accompanying passage, 

“A Gärtner is a breaker of fences

A Waggoner leaves ruts

Meanness is the root of evil

Bessler seems to have used any opportunity to point a veiled reference to these numbers.  I should also point out that the 2Gs, refers to his enemy in chief Andreas  Gärtner.  The 2 Ws refers to another enemy, Christian Wagner, the two Bs refer to the third enemy, Johann Gottfried Borlach

JC

The Reason Why Johann Bessler Left Behind So Many Clues.

Why did Johann Bessler leave so many unanswered questions? Why so many clues?  What do they mean? The detail within each clue and the sheer number of them confirms for me at least, the determination in Bessler’s mind, not to let his secret out too soon, but also not to have it lost after his death - he said he would rather receive acknowledgement for his invention after his death than just give it away.

Many of the clues are designed to have two and even three methods of deciphering them, which conveniently confirms if you’ve got the right solution. To my certain knowledge there are at least eight completely different types of cipher used by Bessler and that’s the ones I’m aware of.  More may appear once the secret of the wheel’s construction is known, and professional code breakers get to work.

There can really only be one of two possible reasons for including a variety of coded texts, drawings - and the hints that interested people should study his books..  He hoped that one day, maybe after he had died,  someone would succeed in deciphering them, revealing either how he had deceived everyone - or how the machine worked. 

Despite the traditional view as formulated by Herman von Helmholtz in 1847, that perpetual motion machines could not be possible, there is extensive evidence that Johann Bessler genuinely designed and built a continuously rotating device, with no discernible energy source, capable of lifting a heavy load, 70 pounds for example, driving an Archimedes screw for pumping water and able to run for at least 54 days under lock and key, as was tested.

Of course many people have tried to prove he faked the demonstrations but they failed to show how, though they tried every trick under the sun.  But it isn’t just that which convinces people of his sincerity, the one outstanding piece of evidence against him, apart from the said impossibility of the device, was the statement by his serving girl, which described the most unconvincing means of faking the machine, and other equally ridiculous suggestions when questioned.  This plus Karl the Landgrave’s statement that the machine was genuine and quite simple, as he had insisted on being allowed to satisfy himself by examining the workings of the wheel before certifying that Bessler was no cheat. 

Read the full story in my book, Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?  That and all four of Bessler’s books, with English translations available through the panel on the right.

Having spent many years studying Johann Bessler, I am satisfied that his claims were genuine, and that his machine can be replicated again, and now is as good a time any as the global warming increases.  One thing is certain, his machine was enabled by gravity, make of that what you will. What better way to reduce pollution from burning fossil fuel than by bending the action of gravity to our needs, and those of the planet? No more fossil fuels, no nuclear, none of the other sources which are all limited in some way.  Gravity is ceaseless and everywhere. 

JC

Why I Continue to Seek Johann Bessler’s Secret?

So often over many years while I’ve been trying to find the secret of Bessler’s wheel, I’ve been asked why? Why did I spend so long looking for the answer to a question which was already known, understood and believed.  Johann Bessler’s wheel was faked, such machines were impossible and I should stop wasting my time on a fruitless task.

When I first chanced upon the legend of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion machine I read it and came to the same conclusion as most people, it had to have been a fraudulent exercise by a desperate man.  Everyone said, “it’s impossible!”

However, day-dreaming about the story one day, I suddenly realised there was an absurdity or an impossibility in the account I had read.  At the time I thought perhaps the records were inaccurate or there was some other explanation, but subsequently I discovered the records were correct but a major piece of evidence was false, which was designed to prove that Bessler was a liar and his claims were false.  

This simple discovery set me on a lifetime quest for the truth.  I was about fifteen years of age at the time, now I’m approaching my seventy-eighth birthday and my confidence has never been higher because I have at last been given a clear view through the smoke and mirrors that Bessler used to disguise the true configuration of his mysterious machine.

Johann Bessler first exhibited his machine in 1712 in Gera, Germany and he valued the device at 100,000 Thaler's,  equivalent to twenty thousand Pounds at that time.  Coincidentally in that same year the British Board of Longitude offered the same amount to the inventor of a method for establishing a ship’s longitudinal position at sea.  This was won eventually by John Harrison’s marine chronometer, but it must have given Bessler the confidence to ask a similar sum.

Of course Bessler’s insistence on being paid the money before he would release the machine or even allow  an internal examination of it, prevented any chance of a successful sale being completed. He had managed to arrange for verification of his claims by a man of impeccable reputation, Karl the Landgrave of Hesse Kassel, who demanded full access before agreeing to certify that the machine was genuine.   But despite this excellent endorsement and several expressions of interest no-one could agree to the details of the sale.

The reason for my continued search for the solution is the existence of no less than three books written and published by Bessler plus the discovery of a file containing 141 drawings describing attempted perpetual motion designs.  There are numerous clues within the text as well as the drawings included in the three books. In more than one place he has hinted that close examination of the books could lead to the solution for someone with a discerning mind.

It is clear to anyone who reads Bessler’s words in his books, that he is sincere; that he suffers from stress piled up on him by his critics, his “enemies” as he constantly refers to them.  If he was false would Karl have backed him? Wouldn’t he be subject to the same punishment as anyone else found to have been trying to deceive his ruler, Karl, namely execution by a beheading? That is a likely outcome for anyone believed to have been trying to cheat his ruler and there was plenty of precedent.

In an attempt to attract more people to begin working within this very niche subject, I arranged to have all three books plus the 141 drawings and their notes, translated into English and then I self-published them through the internet.  I also wrote an account of my own about the Legend of Bessler’s Wheel, entitled ‘Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?”

I’ve recorded a YouTube video, given seven radio interviews; been flown to Rome to take part in a documentary about the inventor.  Had articles and reviews written in magazines; gave a public lecture to room full of engineers, and talked to members of  a readers club at a local library and yet …. so far none of the thousands of people I have corresponded with has succeeded so far in discovering Bessler’s secret.

In 1712 when Bessler first exhibited his machine, Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine was also being demonstrated for the first time.  That two such different machines should appear at the same time, each trying to solve a similar problem - flooding in mines - is an amazing coincidence, but an unfortunate one for Bessler.  He was about 300 years too soon, but now in these times of global warming, and high energy costs, his wheel might just supply the energy we need, it’s cheap, clean and simple.That very small niche might develop into the greatest opportunity of this century.

This blog has run continuously for thirteen years and will not end until Bessler’s Wheel reappears and finally refutes the unfair allegations against Johann Bessler, or I run out of time.

JC

NOTE. All the books mentioned are available both in printed and digital formats. See the panel on the right.

The Difficult Takes Time. The Impossible Takes much Longer. I don’t know about you but I think it’s been Long enough!

                                       

                                       HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

I’m back!

Once again we approach the New Year full of optimism that this time we will succeed in replicating Bessler’s wheel. I think that in 2023 the wheel will finally be revealed.  My new workshop will be ready for me soon, to begin building my latest and probably my final configuration of Bessler’s wheel.  It has been more than two years since I had anything resembling a workshop and it has been a time of utter frustration given that I broke through Bessler’s numerous obfuscations and obtained a clear view of the design just about two years ago.

I struggled to decide whether to build a model as soon as possible or publish the details first but I was advised to build it first as any details published before I had a working model, would suffer from critical analysis from the traditionalists, resulting in confusion and dismissal, with a positive reception lost amongst the angry attacks from the objectors. So I will build it first, as soon as my workshop is ready and then publish all the details. 

We have workmen in at present but they are almost finished and soon I will be able to install my work bench and get building immediately - I’m so excited at the prospect of constructing a new working model! As the build proceeds I will give updates on my progress and share some of the new information. 

I mentioned the traditional objectors above, and I have encountered some every single day since I first shared the idea that Bessler might be genuine, about 60 years ago!  Any method used to describe in detail, on paper, a machine which has been definitively proven to be impossible meets with a brick wall of scepticism.  Our arguments are scornfully dismissed as the crazy ravings of a  nympholeptic, (wild frenzy caused by desire for an unattainable ideal.).  

But “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw. This quote relates to an old French proverb, To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.”

There are numerous examples of over-reactions and total rejections to new ideas generated by lots of amateur researchers, and not just in this field. There are many historical precedents, but many of these so-called impossible dreams are said to be due to imperfect knowledge or inaccurate assumptions, but inevitably some of those dreams have been realised and those who have been unjustly maligned will have the last laugh. 

But those who shared their ideas were attacked in the meanest and most offensive way. Some of those so-called “experts” attacked those who dared air their views, ripping into their theories and calling them lunatics, despite the support many received.  All of us in this field have suffered the same reactions since we began. We have been told so many times that Bessler’s wheel is and was impossible and therefore he was a fake and a scammer, do they really think we don’t know the current and past information being taught about perpetual motion?  I understand their reaction, but there are many people who have considered the very convincing circumstantial evidence that Bessler’s wheel was genuine and have accepted it, yet are consistently derided for their delusion. But it isn’t a delusion and I hope to prove it in 2023.

Offering written evidence and drawings simply won’t be accepted; nothing short of a working model will gain credence, and even then a thorough examination of the device by an accepted expert of impeccable reputation will be demanded. I hesitate to use the  word “expert”, because, how can anyone be an expert on something which is believed to be impossible?

It brings to mind Aristotle’s famous quote, “Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities”.  I think as Bessler’s wheel was believed to be impossible, it will turn out to be a more than probable impossibility.

When I first read that Bessler’s wheel was impossible I thought, but….maybe, just suppose it was possible.  How delightful to picture all those dumbfounded “experts” back peddling as fast as they can!

JC