The True Story of Johann Bessler and his 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

Time for Sharing Bessler Information.

Those of you who have visited here before will be familiar with the title of this blog, so I expect the usual ironic comments but this time I’m serious. I’ve spent much of my spare time during my life, researching the life of Johann Bessler but at 78 I have to admit it’s time I shared my work, my discoveries and hopefully, the solution.  For me the chief problem is that I keep finding new clues or new ways of interpreting the clues but the new stuff doesn’t alter what I have already surmised.  I really need to stop researching because I worry that there’s an increasing chance that if I delay any longer I might become unable to share what I know due to possible dementia, physical illness or early demise!

I first suspected that Bessler just might have been telling the truth when his maid claimed that he had forced her to turn the wheel from his bedroom via a simple mechanism.  The method she described was absurd and impossible for her, with the help of Bessler’s wife and his daughter, to turn the wheel just one rotation let alone, night and day for 54 days - it was a ridiculous statement.  Later on in my research I discovered that she had been imprisoned twice for spreading malicious gossip about her previous employer, Bessler’s  in-laws. 

Leaving that aside, you get the feeling that Bessler was genuine just reading his account of his search for the secret of perpetual motion; his long running battle to get accepted and his constant harassment by the three men who set out to try and prove him a fake. They were Andreas Gärtner,  Christian Wagner and Johann Gottfried Borlach and they did their damndest to prove Bessler a liar, but they failed.

Bessler was visited by the great scientist, Gottfried Leibniz twice, and he was highly impressed by Bessler’s machine and recommended a number of tests the inventor should include in his demonstrations, to prove the machine’s value . With the acknowledgement from Karl the Landgrave of Hesse, who had been allowed to examine the interior of the machine and had stated that the machine was genuine, the inventor was able arrange the demonstrations just as Leibniz had suggested.  

The demonstrations included raising a heavy load from the castle yard up to the roof, as many times as people wished; driving an Archimedes screw; transportation of the device from one set of bearing to another set a few steps away.  This last allowed investigators to thoroughly examine both sets of bearings and the pillars in which they were set, to the satisfaction of all present.  The bearings themselves were left open for detailed examination.  Finally an endurance test was arranged.  The machine was locked in a room, after all present were able to verify that there were no hidden trapdoors or other means of access to the room.  The machine was started, and Karl the Landgrave locked the door and impressed his personal seal on it, and placed a guard on the door for the full period of the test, which ran for 54 days. What more could he have done to prove he was genuine?

But Bessler was still in a catch 22 situation.  This is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations.  The terms of a deal in which payment was to be made following an agreement to buy his machine required the buyer to give the money to  the inventor before being allowed to inspect the interior.  No would-be buyer was willing to do that for fear of being cheated.  But Bessler was equally unwilling to allow access to the machine before he had been paid.  He argued that the buyer could study the inner workings of the device and then change his mind about completing the deal and just walk away, and build his own version and sell it for a lot less money than Bessler was asking for..

A very emotional letter exists, one of Bessler’s final ones, in which he begs for more material so that he can complete his last contract, which was to build a new type of windmill, with a vertical axis so that the wind could apply its force from any angle without having to rotate it to face the wind.  He had built the mill up to the first floor but had run out of timber.  The remains of the mill can still be seen, and it’s a very impressive structure.  Bessler unfortunately fell to his death from the top of the building, and it was believed that the secret of his machine was lost.

I discovered that Bessler had left a complex series of clues of various kinds which would reveal the secret of his machine.  As far as I know no-one before me had even suspected such a thing existed.  I have published numerous examples of these clues on my other web site at www.theorffyreuscode.com

When I publish the actual clues which reveal the secret I hope that someone will take the challenge and build a working model.  I hoped it would be myself who gained that honour, but I’m finding it more difficult these days to build the mechanisms and in fact although Karl described the configuration as simple and the design easy to understand, his suggestion that an apprentice could build it given a chance to note the details, may have given the wrong impression. I think that apprentices could do it, after all they used to study under a Master craftsman for seven years before being released from their apprenticeship, so I believe they were probably more capable than I!

As for the design configuration, it really is simple and easy to understand and, like Karl said, “I’m surprised no one has discovered it before.”  There’s going to be a lot of faces filled with chagrin!

JC

Johann Bessler’s First Public Exhibition was on 6th June, 1712

A comment on this blog inspired me to follow his suggestion that we should call this day, 6th June,  “Bessler Day”. 

On the sixth day of June 2023 it was 311 years since the famous inventor, Johann Bessler, also known by his strange pseudonym, Orffyreus, first set up his Perpetual Motion machine in the small village of Gera, in Germany, in order to exhibit his amazing machine.  He desired to sell his machine and sought the patronage of a wealthy and respected member of the nobility.  

He eventually accepted the offer of a place to exhibit his machine plus a position as Commercial Councillor at the castle of Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse.  Karl was a highly respected and knowledgable patron of scientific experimentation.  He had spent several years prior to Bessler’s arrival funding the experiments of Denis Papin.

Bessler attracted a huge amount of interest but failed to sell his machine due to his awkward terms of sale - there was distrust on both sides, despite Karl’s assurance that he had been able to inspect the inner workings of them machine, and stated that it was genuine. The inventor died without having sold his device when he fell from a windmill he was building.  Like many if his ideas it was designed to take advantage of the wind from what ever direction it came.

He never withdrew his claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine and continued to devise new uses for it, such as draining water from mines, a continuously playing carillon, a submarine, fountains for pleasure gardens etc.

The evidence that his machine was genuine is convincing.  He left a number of clues, hints and illustrations which contain enough evidence to work out how his machine worked.  It’s all there before our eyes and has been for more than three hundred years.

At the moment I expect less that 99.999 per cent of planet earth’s population have ever heard of him, but I confidently anticipate that that figure will drop dramatically upon release of the solution to his machine to the world at large. His name will become famous, his story will appear in countless languages and people from all around the world will discover the benefits of free, clean electricity. People will want to celebrate Johann Bessler’s work on Bessler Day for discovering and building the world’s first free, clean, energy continuously rotating electricity generator - hopefully a way of mitigating the effects of climate change.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Maschinen Tractate

When Bessler, aka Orffyreus, died his after-death inventory included many papers stored in a box along with several wood ink blocks.  Among those papers was a collection of printed sheets which numbered about 141.  They consisted of a number of illustrations detailing examples of attempted perpetual motion machines.  None of these would have worked but some were accompanied by brief notes. The author hints that he will reveal more later in the sequence of pages.  Many are convinced that the drawings contain codes which when deciphered it is hoped, would lead to the solution to his own perpetual motion machine.

It has always been my contention that the papers were never intended to be published.  I think that they were simply oexecuted prints designed for use by his intended apprentices at his planned school once he had obtained sufficient funds from the sale of his PM machine. I named the collection of pages ‘Maschinen Tractate’, (MT) in error thinking that a book he offered to the Tzar of Russia, Peter the Great, which he described similarly was what was in the box. Later I realised that the Tzar’s book was to contain details of all the agricultural and industrial machinery that Bessler had learned about during his early years.

I envisage a class of young apprentices of around fifteen years of age, numbering a dozen or so.  For each class Bessler would print off a dozen sheets from his box and hand them out for discussion and study. He included some of his minor ciphers but I believe they were there to test his pupils powers of observation and to introduce new ideas and some humour into their classroom discussion. 

The last illustration that seemed intended as part of the series appears to be MT136; MT137 was in my opinion added later but still intended for discussion because it mimicked  Bessler’s acquaintance, David Heinichen’s ‘circle of fifths’. This would be a good subject for class discussion particularly because it drew a link between music and the golden mean. 

After MT137 there followed a single page numbered 138,139,140 and 141. I coined the name the ‘Toys Page’, (TP) for convenience and because I didn’t want people to refer to it as MT138 without the other numbers as I thought it might lead to confusion. I used the word ‘Toys’ because Bessler used the word in a note on that page.

I think that Bessler had already designed and printed this page for discussion in his classroom, but added the note later, possibly for benefit of those who came after.

In summary then I think there is little to learn from MT, which is not available elsewhere, but the Toys page does offer lmore information from a different angle, which I found useful.

On the first page of the MT, Bessler wrote, 

“ N.B. 1st May, 1733. Due to the arrest, I burned and buried all papers that prove the possibility. However, I have left all demonstrations and experiments since it would be difficult for anybody to see or learn anything about a perpetual motion from them or to decide whether there was any truth in them because no illustration by itself contains a description of the motion; however, taking various illustrations together and combining them with a discerning mind, it will indeed be possible to look for a movement and, finally to find one in them.”

I have said this several times over the years, but here goes again - in my opinion when he writes,‘taking various illustrations together and combining them with a discerning mind’  he is not excluding other illustrations, in other words he is also hinting at those in GB, AP and DT.

NB - What ever his original intention may have been in making his collection of illustrations with ink block printing, the above message written on the front of MT suggests that at that point in his life he thought that his illustrations might become the focus of examination by other people.  In which case what is in the collection is sufficient in his opinion for a stranger to discover his solution.  Personally I don’t believe that any of the collection has enough information within it, to help towards that desired end - unless you include the illustrations in GB, AP and DT.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Wheel Could Save Planet Earth.

Some folk seem worried about their future and that of the planet if Bessler’s wheel should be solved, built and developed. But they should be more concerned about their future if Bessler’s wheel isn’t built! Free or cheap, clean electricity might seem politically and economically dangerous, but there are worse dangers waiting for us.

This planet, and all its inhabitants, is facing a far greater danger from global warming than any scenario involving a successful emergence of Bessler’s wheel. I don’t need to tell you what we face or rather our children, but here a little reminder based on what’s happening right now.

“Global Temperature Is Rising. 

The Ocean Is Getting Warmer. ... 

The Ice Sheets Are Shrinking. ... 

Glaciers Are Retreating. ... 

Snow Cover Is Decreasing. ... 

Sea Level Is Rising. ... 

Arctic Sea Ice Is Declining. ... 

Extreme Events Are Increasing in Frequency.”

“In the U.K., communities as far inland as Peterborough, King's Lynn, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire in the east of England, as well as the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex coastlines, would all be underwater by 2050 if nothing is done to stop sea levels rising at their current rate.

Recently, on 12 July 2021 flash floods caused eight underground lines to be suspended and many stations forced to close. In the aftermath of flooded basements and shop floors, Londoners quickly took to social media to share shocking images of water gushing down tube steps, sentimental contents ruined, and cars determinedly ploughing through sodden high streets as they battle against water levels that licked the tops of their tyres. 

Five days later it happened again. In under two hours over 70cm (over 2 feet) of rain hit the streets of London. Once more, homes, restaurants, shops and stations were flooded.

Then again on 25 July the capital felt the effects of another sudden, violent downpour. Following this flood, as well as the now usual flurry of tube stations quickly shutting gates to passengers, two London hospitals had to close too, with patients forced to evacuate their beds and the building due to power outages. 

The Met Office also issued its first extreme heat warning in July as temperatures soared to 32⁰C in large parts of England and Wales. Last year temperatures hit 40°C. (104°F) for several days.

As homeowners and businesses struggled to deal with the devastation, yet again, the events were a stark reminder of projections from the non-profit news organisation Climate Central that parts of London were at risk of being under water by 2050. Just 27 years away.”

It’s the same story everywhere:-

“By 2050, sea level along contiguous U.S. coastlines could rise as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) above today’s waterline, according to researchers who analyzed nearly three decades of satellite observations. The results from the NASA Sea Level Change Team could help refine near-term projections for coastal communities that are bracing for increases in both catastrophic and nuisance flooding 

in coming years.

Global sea level has been rising for decades in response to a warming climate, and multiple lines of evidence indicate the rise is accelerating. The new findings support the higher-range scenarios outlined in an interagency report released in February 2022. That report, developed by several federal agencies – including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey – expect significant sea level rise over the next 30 years by region. They projected 10 to 14 inches (25 to 35 centimetres) of rise on average for the East Coast, 14 to 18 inches (35 to 45 centimetres) for the Gulf Coast, and 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimetre’s) for the West”.

So don’t fear the impact Bessler’s wheel would have, fear for us if no way of mitigating the effects of global warming can be found.

JC

What If Johann Bessler’s Machine Really Worked? Imagine!

It is so frustrating trying to convince people that Johann Bessler’s machine could be a great invention, an incredible benefit to the planet, a source of free, clean energy.  But we struggle to climb a gigantic wall of scepticism and yet there is a constant intensifying debate demanding a solution to global warming and all the ramifications associated with it.

I have, over a number of years, tried to interest people in those higher reaches of research and development who I believe would be in the right position to take note of Bessler’s work, and accept it as a challenge and obtain funding to rediscover the secret.  Polite interest was the usual response, adding a comment such as, “build a working model and I’ll take a look at it!”  This remains the response.

I watched an inspiring video by Prince William on climate change, such a good speaker!  No I’m not going to write to him, but he makes a good case for doing all we can to help our planet back to a healthier state.  Like his father he prioritises the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaaU0BuCnU

Bessler, aka Orffyreus, invented and exhibited a machine which he claimed used only gravity to make it rotate endlessly. After about fifty years of study, my original opinion that Bessler’s claim was genuine has been strengthened to the point where I know beyond a shadow of doubt that his machine was genuine.  The circumstantial evidence is so strong that in a court of law a judge must find Bessler innocent of an suggestions of impropriety. 

The fact that we have been taught emphatically that such devices oppose the laws of science, not to mention common sense, should not detract from the importance of a proper investigation into the potential advantages of such a device in today’s world of increasing energy costs, pollution and global warming.

Having studied Bessler’s words for over 50 years I’ve come to know him and how his mind worked.  When reading his account of his experiences one can feel his exasperation at the actions of his “enemies” his name for those who opposed his claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine.  He continued to stand by his assertion until his death.  I too will continue to maintain my own conviction that his machine was genuine and worthy of development.

I have written a detailed account of Johann Bessler’s life which is available by clicking the appropriate link in either the top of the side panel under the words, ‘Johann Bessler’s Books and biography’. Alternatively you can click on a link towards the bottom of the right side panel which lists each book.  The biography contains details of letters to and from Bessler plus others writing about him.  There are copies of witness statements, tests and testimonials. 

The other books are copies of Bessler’s own work and each has a full English translation at the end.

JC

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine”

― Alan Turing

Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus and his 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

Gravity Enabled Continuously Rotating Electricity Generator

There are a small group of people wide spread around the world, who believe that Johann Bessler’s claim that he had invented a so-called Perpetual Motion machines was genuine.  But most people’s first opinion is to dismiss such declarations with little further consideration, and it’s not surprising, given the current school of thought about such assertions.

Despite the certainty that the educational institutions have established in their curriculums, teaching the young and old alike that Johann Bessler was a fraud, there are a number of questions which are routinely dismissed or ignored, but which need to be properly examined in a fair and unbiased fashion to determine the truth about his machine.  Why? Because those questions raise serious doubts about the consensus of opinion that any kind of machine such as Bessler’s was or is impossible

The inventor never gave up on his contention that his machine was genuine and he declared that if he was found to have been cheating then he should be executed for it.  You might think that such an end was unlikely but actually several people making claims to take advantage of one or more members of the ruling class were indeed summarily executed by having their head chopped off.

Early on during his initial exhibitions, his claim to have invented and exhibited a perpetual motion machine caused a considerable amount of interest within certain court circles among the intellectuals who inhabited that elite society.  Numerous letters between several witnesses who attended Bessler’s demonstrations sparked the interest of Gottfried Leibniz. He managed to arrange two private demonstrations where he was able to ask several questions and examine the wheel and its motion.  He came to believe that here was a great invention which should not be lost because of the scepticism generally advanced in reaction to the demonstrations.

Following his advice and help, Bessler was ordered to bring his machine to the court of Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse. Karl had spent some considerable time funding the experiments of Denis Papin and subsequent to his departure for London, Karl agreed to provide Bessler with rooms to exhibit his new and larger machine.  Of course Karl insisted on being allowed to confirm the inventor’s claims by examining the workings of the machine which he did.  He concluded that the machine was genuine and remarkably simple.  He was a man of tremendous prestige being held in high regard and had a reputation for honesty and sincerity throughout Europe. This coupled with his interest and knowledge of the latest discoveries in the world of science made him the ideal person to offer Bessler his patronage

Following Leibniz’s recommendations, Bessler developed a series of demonstrations which were designed to provide firm, convincing evidence that Bessler’s wheel was genuine. The most obvious one required a continuous run of around two weeks under lock and key and the Landgrave’s personal seal.  A guard was also placed outside the room for the full period of the run, which was actually extended to 54 days in total.

Other measures designed to reduce the chance of fraud, included providing two alternate sets of pillars supporting the wheel, to enable the device to be moved from set to the other.  This allowed the examiners to check both sets of bearings before and after translocation had taken place. Nothing suspicious was ever found.  An Archimedes pump was attached to the wheel to demonstrate how it could pump water if needed.  A chest of stones weighting 70 pounds was hoisted by the wheel from the castle yard to its roof and lowered many times.

Many have tried to find a way that Bessler might have faked the demonstrations, but no secret method has ever been found, and the truth is there for anyone capable of objective analysis to examine the evidence - to see if it was impossible to fake or impossible to be real! 

Current research suggests that although a perpetual motion machine in an isolated system is impossible, where there is an external force field there must be a way to tap this force continuously for as long as that force exists. Bessler states very clearly that his machine relied completely on the action of some weights thus propounding the force of gravity.

This suggested solution is customarily dismissed because gravity is a force and not a source of energy.  However thousands of waterwheels and hydroelectric power stations are enabled to work due to the force of gravity.  The argument that a fallen weight has to be lifted once it’s fallen is used to dismiss Bessler’s wheel, but if Bessler managed to contrive a method which overcame that problem, then his machine was indeed the real deal.  Obviously he must have succeeded so there is a potential solution to global warming with free, clean energy.  

What are we waiting for!

JC

Johann Bessler’s Tilted Pentagram.

One of the curious features of the pentagram embedded in the Weissenstein wheel shown in Johann Bessler’s Das Triumphans book, (and at the top of my blog) is that it is slightly tilted.  Given that he provides a strong indication that the pentagram is deliberate by including two of Euclid’s pentagram construction steps within the illustration, how come it ended up tilted?

In the illustration below I’ve shown the Weissenstein wheel with Euclid’s 11th proposition, next to it which ran thus::-

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

Below I refer to the padlock line (blue) which follows the diameter of the wheel.  I also use the rope line (red) which shows the path of the rope which actually passes behind the wheel.

By including the padlock line (blue) which clearly bisects the angle of 36 degrees formed by CAD at the point where the rope line (in red) meets the padlock line, implies that the result was deliberate and therefore for him to produce a tilted pentagram, either he introduced a deliberate error,  or he deliberately included it as another clue towards an eventual solution.  He emphasised the precision of the pentagram by drawing attention to the base of the triangle where it overlies a succession of hatching lines which are perfectly aligned with it.

Of course he might just have drawn the rope line in the wrong place or at the wrong angle, that could create a tilted pentagram; but given his skills in drawing, measuring etc, that is too unlikely to consider.

Knowing Bessler and his habit of including more than one solution to each clue, I’m sure that he tilted the pentagram for a reason. The rope line should form an angle of 54 degrees with the central pillar upright, 54 being an multiple of 18 degrees like every angle in the pentagram, but it is hard to be sure if it hits that angle.  I considered that he might have altered the angle to 55 degrees but such a small difference would be easily missed missed and I concluded that he didn’t. 

I tried many times over the years to make the pentagram sit straight with the upper chord exactly horizontal,  but failed and it wasn’t until I discovered a second clue which explained how and why the pentagram had a tilt. I’ll explain why it’s tilted in my next blog, next week.

I’m away up north with my granddaughter Amy until the next week.  She’s just hit 3.5 million followers, amy pohl on TikTok. 

JC