A blog about Johann Bessler and the Orffyreus Code and my efforts to decipher it. I'll comment on things connected with it and anything I think might be of interest to anyone else.
The ‘Bessler’s Books’ button at the top of the right side panel, will take you to a page giving access to all Bessler’s books. Simply click ‘home’ to come back to my blog.
Note the copyright notice.
I’ve posted a new blog at www.gravitywheel.com. There’s an old picture of a failed design based on my favourite configuration of five equal compartments! But I’ve included a couple of clues I haven’t shared before; the “hidden in plain sight” variety. There are plenty more of those to come so stick around you might be surprised.
JC
Having cleared the remains from previous builds out of the way, my first task was to mark out on the 3 feet wide MDF disc I’m using, the precise configuration of the planned mechanisms. This wooden disc will provide a backplate to attach the various parts. Unsurprisingly there will be five equal segments.
I’ve marked out the outline of the pentagram as accurately as I can, although I’m not too concerned by any minor inaccuracies, the basic concept is, I believe, quite forgiving.
One of the curious features of the pentagram is the perfect consistency of all the angles involved. The basic angle is 18 degrees and literally all the others used are multiples of this number; hence they are 18, 36, 54, 72, 90 and 108.
Note that Bessler having added an extra J and an E to his initials used his complete initials JEEB to become WRRO using a method known as the Caesar Shift, a well known device used for hundreds of years to encode messages. E being the 5th letter and R the 18th letter, you can see the connection to the pentagram. The remaining letters, W and J also have an important function to act as clues in the correct configuration.
As I mentioned previously I have very few pictures from previous builds and I could attach those I have, but as they are examples of failed designs I see little point in doing that. My first picture will be the marked out disc once I’ve completed that step in the process.
Then I’ll make the various pieces from wood, aluminium, mild steel, string and plastic. I calculate I will need 50 pieces plus screws etc. That’s a minimum of ten items per segment, but I may need more. I’ve already carried out some preliminary tests to confirm that one part of the design works as I planned, but after all these years I know that unexpected problems can arise as the build progresses, but hopefully nothing which is insurmountable.
JC
Some news about a second blog for those who follow me here:-
Firstly, I’m including a brief account of the life of Johann Bessler who discovered the secret of a perpetual motion machine. It derived its energy from the effects of gravity. A model of his device, generally referred to as gravity-wheel, is currently being constructed according to a number of clues he left in his three publications plus a collection of his drawings.
This blog will continue here but I am also starting a second blog which will contain details of my progress but will not accept comments as it is intended to be a record of my work. It will contain descriptions and images as I continue to develop my build. I accept that this construction might fail at the end, however I shall include many of the clues I have found and interpreted and I am hopeful that these may help some other person than myself, to achieve success in this endeavour. It is my hope that somehow in this era of global warming and pollution this machine will help to save the planet.
So my second blog can be found at www.gravitywheel.com
So for those who are still unaware of the amazing invention of Johann Bessler here is his story.
The Legend of Bessler’s Wheel
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.
After a long while I’m back in my workshop. It has been a difficult time with other things pulling me this way and that, and not having had somewhere to make my builds but I’ve now got a space in my garage and I’ve started to build again. I hope to prove that I’m on the right track and heading for a working proof of principle wheel. I realised that all the code and clue dissemination which I have indulged in over the years proves nothing and I may be right or I may be wrong and only the device that works and is repeatable by anyone will satisfy the world.
I began by dismantling the remains of many previous attempts because some of the parts are reusable and have some of the required details needed for the new design. The one thing I keep in mind is that this version has to be simple and even though the concept has been in my mind for many months, actualising it is harder than it looks on paper.
When we last moved house about seven years ago I threw out the remains of some 17 wheels plus most of the component parts and we moved again last year, our eighth move! People have asked me for photographs of them but when you’ve worked on the same design for some time, modifying it over and over, at what point do you take a photo of it? Near the beginning or half way through or at the end of a succession of failures. So no, I’ve got maybe three or four pictures which I might post in the next blog, but I will post pictures of my current build for the first time. I must add that the quality of the build is basic, I see no point in producing a beautifully crafted device before I’ve even got a working model, so this build will be crude but simple.
This is my last build as far as this concept goes, although obviously there may be adjustments to be incorporated as I progress, I don’t have any plans to change it because I’m certain that this design concept is the same as Bessler’s and this will be provable in retrospect by examination of the clues I have discovered.
As promised, the full details will be published here regardless of whether I succeed or not. I think I’m still able to construct a mechanical device, but you never know what difficulties might emerge during construction, but it is quite simple so I’m confident that the wheel will be finished.
JC
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.
Many comments posted here suggest that I don’t share any information, but in fact a simple search in the “search this blog” box at the bottom of the panel on the right will reveal a wealth of information I’ve shared over many years, right back to 2010 and earlier.
There are links to my other web sites in the same panel which include coded information I’ve found and solved.
Ideas to search for:-
Craftsman, clock, Toys, 5, parametric oscillation, (you can miss out ‘oscillation’ it will pick up on ‘parametric’), kiiking, (the spelling is correct), MT137 and much more.
The first “craftsman” phrase I had already decoded a couple of years before it was actually published way back September 2011! Yet I still find most people trying make one pound lift four!
Scrolling down through the search/finds, reveal more interesting subjects of interest.
Much of my information seems to get lost in the dross being released by others of a more indiscriminate nature. I am certain that most of the information I’ve shared will be re-evaluated once Bessler’s Wheel has been solved and published. Many have said that they don’t think the information I have published will help anyone reach the correct solution, well it has helped me and when I publish the solution you will see why I say that.
JC
Copyright ©️ John Collins
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.
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
