The Intriguing Riddle of the Letter-Numbers.

I know I’ve said this before but I find it puzzling to say the least, that the sheer ubiquity of the thinly veiled insinuations by Johann Bessler, that somehow the number five is of tremendous importance, seems to be largely ignored. Equally perplexing is the opposite adherence to just one other clue that mentions on a single occasion, “….the sound of about eight weights landing on the side towards which wheel turned”. It’s my impression that Bessler-world spends an inordinate amount of time fixated on this supposed fact, while ignoring Bessler’s admission that he had, on occasion, muffled the sound with felt.

Back in the late 1990’s I found the pentagram in Bessler’s first illustration in GB, and that eventually led me to track the ubiquitous number 5s through out his publications. 

He altered his forenames from Elias Bessler to Johann Ernst Elias Bessler.  This, coupled with the adoption of his strange pseudonym, Orffyreus through the application of the ancient Hebrew code, atbash, as it was known, led me to do the same to his initials and convert JEEB to WRRO..

E being the 5th letter of the alphabet, chimed with the pentagram being a circle of fifths, and there were two of them. This also connected with his comment in AP, that his weights operated in pairs. 

The letter J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, seemed superfluous, however once I applied the atbash cipher to JEEB and got WRRO, I understood the presence of the J and W.  The W can be seen to be composed of two Roman number 5s. Bessler always wrote his Ws as two interlinked Vs, suggesting again two 5s, or two fifths, were working together as a pair.

Notice the names of his sworn enemies, their surname initial and then their whole surname in the above picture from AP, Gartner, Wagner and Bosz.

The letter R is the 18th letter of the alphabet and is also the basic number used in the pentagram.  In fact every number in the pentagram is a multiple of that figure - 18, 36, 54, 72, 90 and 108. All of these are used in Bessler’s wheel. Notice there are two letter Rs in the images of his signature below, supporting the letter O. One for each  direction.

The letter O, serves Bessler well as a representation of his wheel, with a dot in the middle representing the wheel itself, it is known as a circumpunct,

A circumpunct is a circle with a dot or point in its centre. Bessler used it in place of the letter 'O' in Orffyreus, in almost all of his abbreviated signatures as well as many of his full ones.  The above two are typical examples. Amongst many other meanings it represents the sun and was the alchemical symbol for gold.

The above examples of coding that Bessler was able to use have one thing in common, they have proved remarkably convenient and apt for his purposes. How fortunate that the 5th letter E should have as it’s atbash equivalent the letter R, the 18th letter.  5 and 18, the basic numbers of the pentagram.  He chose the letter J, the 10th letter because it’s atbash equivalent is W to provide the information that two 5s were interlinked as pairs.  The letter O, the atbash equivalent of his B for Bessler, within the same cipher provided the circumpunct, the perfect symbol for his wheel.  

These simple facts raised questions in my mind.  Was it just coincidence that E/5 and R/18 were each in their precise positions alphabetically, to imply a relationship with the pentagram - or was there some other factor or agent which positioned those two letter/numbers to both be present at the right place?  One way to see if there was anything other than coincidence would be to see how long the alphabet has been in the same order.

It seems, from a brief search, that the alphabet order has always been the same.  This is because it was taught to children while they were learning to read and they taught their children and so on.  Of course letters were added and removed from time to time dependent on the language used.  But it can be traced back almost 2000 years before CE and those letters remained in their current position for at least 4000 years - but that doesn’t answer the question.  

One theory suggests every letter had a number with it in order to keep it in the right position, and the numbers were dropped over time.  But the atbash cipher wouldn’t work if the number/ letters were in a different position, which suggests that the placing was deliberately chosen. 

Someone, at some point, thousands of years ago arranged the order of the alphabet and it hasn’t changed much in most cases.  It would be interesting to find some confirmation that E/5 and R/18 were placed in their positions for the reason I suggested - or is that a stretch too far and it’s just a coincidence!

There is more to this than meets the eye and it’s something that may help us unravel Bessler’s puzzling “Declaration of Faith” in chapter 55 of his “Apologia Poetica”.  He placed 141 abbreviated Bible references at the end of short lines of text, which seem unconnected to the subject matter in the references.  Some of the references do not exist; for instance, in some cases the number of verses quoted are more than can be found. 

I’m currently investigating the output of Christian Weise, Bessler’s teacher who published ideas about the use of number/letter alphabets; also David Heinichen, promoter of his “Circle of Fifths” and the composer JS Bach and “the Riddle of the Number-Alphabet”.  The latter three knew each other, lived within a short distance of each other and at the same time. All three people were involved in the theory of music and the last two wrote extensively on the use of letter/numbers in both music and texts.

JC

Update - Things Are Looking Up!

Finally the builders have left and I’m getting ready to move into my new workshop.  Originally they estimated finishing in January, but a few events  conspired to cause delays.

There’s one wall of bare plaster which I’m painting, then I’m building a work bench to fix to the end wall. I’ve got some of my wheel parts ready for assembly but I’m going to build a test rig just to test the action of one mechanism, which I’m confident will act as I designed it to.  I know how overconfident I sound but the truth is the prime mover is so simple to understand, once you know, it’s a forehead slapping moment…..

I have drawn the mechanisms on computer and also on paper.  There are five mechanisms, each with one weight.  There are ten small pulleys to guide five lengths of cord.  There are no springs. The Toys  page holds much information as do the drawings in GB and DT.  AP and DT also hold some good textual pieces of information.  For me there is little information in the rest of MT, but more may surface once the correct configuration is known.

I know people are sceptical and I don’t blame them, I’ve been positive so many times before (haven’t we all?) but never like this.  For most of the last year, I’ve been writing up details of the clues and the reasons for the meanings I’ve taken from them.  My concern is to try to show what and where the information is in the books, and what it means, and try to avoid dubious interpretations.  I think that if the wheel works that should remove any doubt, but if it doesn’t, I’m still certain that it is very, very close. 

Much of my code breaking has centred on the number five which Johann Bessler appeared to be obsessed with.  I think the number five might have been the one word he was worried about accidentally revealing in case it might give his secret away.  But that does not appear to have happened and perhaps he wasn’t speaking literally, but meant any accidental slip of the tongue.  

Given the very simplicity of his wheel, I half expected someone else to stumble upon the truth about the Prime Mover, before I had a chance to test it out on a model, and although there has been much discussion about certain clues Bessler sprinkled all over his works, and I thought that they were getting close, the focus of the talk moved away.

My one determination is to build and test my design before I release it to the public.  I’m not interested in patents, IPs nor am I concerned at someone else using my/Bessler’s design for their own purposes.  Having spent most of my life chasing information about Bessler, I would like to think it that I did something worthwhile with my life that would be remembered after I’m gone. 

My translations and publications of everything to do with Bessler will still be available for years to come, and probably better translations will appear.  But I like the idea that all information currently discussed and quoted from, originated from my hand and was the source most commonly used in this field of research.

So at last, maybe I’ll succeed in building a proof of principle machine.

JC

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 78). 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 realised 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 enough information about his wheel,to allow “someone with an acute and discerning mind, to build one”.

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 also 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

Ink Blots - Clues - Deliberate or Accidental?

It’s my opinion that too much importance is being placed on simple printing errors.  These ink spots are leading to wild speculation and I don’t think it has anything to do with Bessler’s intentions. However seeing as people wish to discuss them and their validity, I’m willing to leave the comments public. 

The same applies to the numerology comments.  But any comparison with Ken’s work will still receive the spam label.

I shall continue to dismiss inkblots and numerology as having any meaning here, but we’ll see how things go.  I’m not afraid to consider a well-argued comment in favour of either, but I’m sceptical of my acceptance of either.

The comments on this blog are covering what appears to be subtle clues in the ink block prints.  I don’t think they are deliberate, I’m sure they are accidental.  What follows is part of an article on ink block printing by a teacher of the subject.  Thanks to https://www.recoverie.com/blog/block-printing-mistakes

“ARE YOU MAKING THESE BLOCK PRINTING MISTAKES?

BLOCK PRINTING MISTAKE 1: USING TOO MUCH INK!

This is by FAR the most common block printing mistake I see people making, and really, it's the most unfortunate.

...because the fact is, the amount of ink you use will drastically change the end result of your block prints.

SO:

In order to attempt to remedy this, I decided to break down a few of the most common block printing mistakes I see people making when it comes to block printing. 

BLOCK PRINTING MISTAKE 1: USING TOO MUCH INK!

This is by FAR the most common block printing mistake I see people making, and really, it's the most unfortunate.

When you take the time to design and carve out such an intricate pattern, it's weird to think that people treat the ink side of things as such an afterthought...

...because the fact is, the amount of ink you use will drastically change the end result of your block prints.”

I haven’t included the rest of the article because it covers more modern practices, but it does suggest that what some people believe there are deliberate clues which are in fact simply over inking of the wood block.

As I commented in my previous blog, 

“ That is just a typical ink block printing error, a little too much ink in one area and you get a blot. These prints that Bessler left us were designed to be used with his students, and the actual wood ink blocks were kept so he could print some for every new class. So the paper prints were kept for his own purposes, showing what each ink block depicted so he could easily see which one he wished to use. A minor print error such as the so-called severed head is just that, nothing more, no hidden meaning, no secret warning. Obviously he would print better copies for his future students.”

Unfortunately the trolls and naysayers have, by their abusive comments, persuaded me to remove the anonymous comments feature. I shall continue to post this blog up to and including the period when I publish my information about Bessler’s wheel. I’m sorry for those who enjoyed commenting, I shall miss them.

JC

Numerology - Art or Science?

I’m not a numerologist nor a code expert, and even though I know Bessler practised alphanumerics, the Caesar Shift and other similar versions of it, as well as chronograms and a variety of ways of disguising information, I have managed to extract some useful information. But until I can prove it is correct it’s still just speculation.

It seems obvious that Johann Bessler hoped at some point, after his death, that people might be intrigued enough to study his books and try to extract the hidden information. Well I’ve tried, as have many people from around the world, but so far without success. For me, success would be the publication of an explanation of how his wheel worked plus a high quality video, a verifiable and repeatable simulation and most importantly a working model. So far no claimants.

One of the results of all the information so far gleaned from the legend of Bessler’s wheel, has been an upsurge in spurious speculation. Numerology for instance, I read that it “is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names. When numerology is applied to a person's name, it is a form of onomancy.”

For example,“ onomancy is an old-fashioned kind of fortune telling based on a person's name. If three women with the same name sit at a table, one of them will be married within the year. Believe it or not, that's onomancy. The belief in a connection between luck and a person's name is an old one.”   

Do I read my horoscope?  Not for about 50 years!  To believe that the motion of the stars can affect a person’s life is nonsense and to assign meaning to significant numbers which you can relate to people’s names is equally a waste of time.  

On the other hand if it can be shown that Bessler used alphabetic substitution, alphanumerics and chronograms to hide useful information, that in itself doesn’t mean that he believed in the original purpose of such beliefs.  All it tells us is that he used an existing system to hide information.  Those beliefs offered a readymade system for him to adapt to his own purposes.  One unfortunate effect of this is that others who practise numerology for instance, search for examples of the belief in Bessler’s works, and finding certain coincidental numbers which they then apply according to the rules of numerology, and pronounce their findings accordingly. To me this too, is meaningless.

I have always believed that it is easy enough to make an argument for a certain conclusion by looking for certain numbers, manipulating them according to procedures laid down in the rules, and present one’s conclusions.  The numbers appear to be very elementary and ways of finding them and making one’s calculations, absurdly simple.  As you may be able to tell, I don’t believe in foretelling the future in this or any other way.  

However I do believe that Bessler hid a lot of information in letters, numbers and drawings, and as many who come here will know, I have many significant examples of this.

Having said all this I do enjoy some of the posts detailing the examples of the numerologist’s art particularly when their conclusions appear so apposite, but in my opinion there is neither use nor value in them, other than as a form of entertainment. If somehow an expert in numerology could make some predictions that could be checked and verified, that would go someway towards reducing my opposition to this belief system. 

One thing has always guided me in presenting information about Johann Bessler and that was to try to base it on documentary evidence.  If I speculated about anything I tried to make it clear that it was my personal opinion and unsubstantiated.

This subject matter relies heavily on documentary evidence and even circumstantial evidence should be clearly identified.

It is therefore with much regret that I’m going to have to do something to stop people making comments that have no documented evidence to support them and which are presented as fact, when they are personal opinions.

I can’t make it a feature of this blog to require people to sign in, for some reason it’s not possible, which leaves me with two options.  Either I stop allowing comments, or I systematically delete all offending comments.

The latter does not appeal, so I will be closing the comments very soon.  If those who continue to post comments in support of Ken B’s completely absurd notions wish for the comments be allowed to continue, perhaps they would consider removing them selves from this blog permanently so the rest of us can continue to discuss Bessler in a reasonable manner.

JC

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