The True Story of Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine.

The Legend of Johann 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 it. Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, he devised 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 several years Karl aged and it was decided that the inventor should leave 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 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 and the buyer take the machine without viewing the internal workings. 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. Subsequently 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?" 

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 www.free-energy.co.uk

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.

As I often say, the solution to this device is needed now. Anything that might help cleanse the planet of pollution and help to reduce green house gas emissions, by providing a clean cheap alternative energy source should encouraged in its discovery and development to counter global warming.

JC

Suppose You Succeed! What’s Next?

What will you do if you succeed in building a device which is based on the same concept as Bessler’s wheel, or appears to be similar?  I know that I have different thoughts about the best way forward, and I change my mind from time to time.

I guess it depends on what you hope to get out of it, or even if you don’t want anything material, you just want it out there.  Most of us, in my opinion, want security for the future for themselves and their families, which means some kind of financial reward.  Others would like recognition as the rescuer of the lost Bessler technology; some would like acknowledgement of their part in its resurrection without the attendant fame.

Those who did not want anything other than seeing the machine recognised as a unique source of free and clean energy, would willingly share it with one or more people as long as their anonymity was maintained.

I understand and sympathise with all of these scenarios, as I have considered each and every one of them at length over many years. But in the end I came to the conclusion that family gets to put their point of view above all the others and security for your loved ones whether, old, middle-aged, youthful, child or baby; or friends, neighbours or people you admire or want to help - they all have a stake in your decisions and will likely affect what course you take.

So financial reward looks the most likely deciding factor in my opinion -  you might disagree, probably will - so how would you deal with success?

Many of us have expressed the opinion that patenting is the right way to go.  I have always believed that it would be a mistake for reasons I have explained many times here and I don’t want to go into it in detail again.  Others think that licensing a patent is one way do it, but licensing a product without a patent can be done if you know how to do it correctly. One approach is to get a provisional patent, where you'll pay a specific fee and complete a form. When you show it to possible buyers, you'll put the words "patent pending" on the item. You won't have to go through a complicated process of getting a patent this way and are still able to protect the invention from potential competitors who might steal your idea.

Another way to sell a product without needing to get a patent is to work with an invention submission company. There are many companies out there that offer help to inventors for a fee. A variety of services are offered, and some help you just get a patent  while others will help you with possible sales. 

Courtesy of https://www.upcounsel.com/licensing-a-product-without-a-patent

There are so many other ways to earn yourself what ever financial reward you believe you deserve. Interviews for  books and magazines both digital and printed; TV, radio; forums, social media.  Of course there may be documentaries and films. The possibilities are endless.

I mentioned films and one popular discussion point  over the years has been the important but difficult decision as to who would be the best actor to play Bessler. I have my ideas but I’ll wait and see if there are any suggestions.  😁

JC

Johann Bessler’s Legacies.

Bessler’s wheel is one obvious legacy and although there are some who believe that it’s potential power output is too limited to be of practical use, I disagree.  You only have to look at the enormous windmills which are spreading like a rash across the green hills of this country to see that it’s a matter of scale. As Bessler suggested, you could have several wheels in series mounted on the same axle to multiply the output.  The other legacy is buried within Bessler’s publications.

I’ve always felt I was destined to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel. Ever since I read the story of  ‘The Wheel of Orffyreus’, as written by Rupert T. Gould, in his book, ‘Oddities’, I knew in my heart that here was a story I could tell and a mystery I could try to solve.  Although that was more than 50 years ago, and despite all the years during which I researched the life and times of Johann Bessler, I never doubted that I would discover the secret of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion machine.  But between knowing you have the answer and proving it lies a significant gap!

I’m sure that everyone else who is working in this field feels the same, but over the years gradually, bit by bit, I’ve discovered and understood many of Bessler’s clues, hints, inferences and apparently non-sensical text. There is one thing to take away from what I’ve learned about Johann Bessler - well actually several things - but in his publications there are no mistakes, everything in them is deliberate even if it looks wrong.  There are no errors and therefore anything that might seem crazy is actually a clue to be identified, interpreted and understood.  It is also true that many of these apparent mistakes or odd phrasings that are actually clues, also contain two or even three ways of getting the same answer. This is how he confirmed if you were on the right track.

Having said that, I’m still learning, discovering new nuances of each clue which can sometimes lead you on to a new discovery. In my opinion, once the solution is revealed and the amazing mind that found it originally, and then hid it in plain sight, with very few overt indications, all those who sneered and jeered and dismissed his claims as fanciful nonsense, will be astounded and amazed at the beauty, intricacy yet simplicity of his work.  His geometrical connections and inferences will become a subject of study in years to come as more and more clues and codes are identified and deciphered.

One other thing I’d like to comment on; the apparent paradox of being so extremely secretive about his machine and how it worked, that he dare not even utter a single word which might give away his secret - and yet placing literally hundreds of clues which if solved could reveal the secret of his perpetual motion machine. Why?  In my opinion, he was confident that no one would ever decipher his clues, so the point must have been either to have given public lectures demonstrating his clever use of the codes and the general obfuscation which hid the clues - or he hoped to sell a book detailing all his clues and how to understand them - or he intended to use the clues and codes in his apprentices school. Why else?

JC

Johann Bessler and His Wonderful Machine

Some people believe that Johann Bessler built a machine that could turn continuously enabled purely by the effect of gravity on several weights.  

These weights were configured in such a way that the wheel was permanently out of balance.  This feature of the wheel is supported by several witnesses at different times to the fact that the wheel had to be tied down, or locked, once it was brought to a stop. Once released it would immediately begin to turn again, quickly reaching its top speed when not under load, of around 50 rpm. Among numerous tests he also allowed one wheel to turn for 54 days.  I am one of those who believe Bessler’s, so-called Perpetual Motion machine, was genuine.

Of course I’m familiar with the immediate response of all those (everyone else!) who’ve been taught that such machines are impossible but there is so much more to this story than meets the eye.  Right from the beginning, aged about 15 years old, I was convinced that Bessler’s machine was genuine. But at such a young age it might be suspected that I was naive, ignorant or easily misled etc, but no, the facts documented in the legend are not open to dispute, and therefore they should be examined by teams of funded researchers. A quick and fair study of the facts will convince anyone of the truth.

Fortunately there is an amazing group of people from all around the world who share a common belief that Bessler’s claims were genuine and that the machine needs to reappear now, just at the time it is most needed - to provide clean, free energy. They (you) are striving to find the secret of Bessler’s wheel.

The vast number of people have no idea that Bessler’s wheel even existed, let alone that it worked.  The struggle to get official recognition that his machine was genuine is proving to be a momentous task, and it is widely acknowledged by his supporters that there is really only one way to get that recognition and that requires a working model to be revealed in all the media that abounds in our world.

When I first began to publish my books about and by Johann Bessler, I imagined the world would be fascinated by my work.  I was convinced that within a very short span of time Bessler wheels would have been invented; there’d be thousands of them in every country generating electricity; the combustion engine would rapidly becoming obsolete; windmills redundant; climate change halted; pollution reduced. I was wrong; I was too impatient, but we will get there……eventually.

JC

HAPPY NEW YEAR To All.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, we certainly did, and the New Year 2022, looks like being the best ever, when the secret of Bessler’s wheel is revealed. 

It is easy to forget why we are all still believers in Bessler’s claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine.  Yes, we are all familiar with Bessler’s words and the witness statements, but what evidence is there against his perpetual motion machine?  One - they are said to be impossible, but that only applies to isolated systems with no external source of energy.  The second piece of evidence is that of Bessler’s maid.

 I have copied and pasted a paragraph from my book about Bessler, published in 1996!

‘In a document dated 28th November 1727, Orffyreus' maid makes the following statement, as recorded by Strieder:

"The posts had been hollowed out and contained a long thin piece of iron with a barb at the bottom which was attached to the shaft journal. Turning was carried out from Orffyreus' bedroom which was close to the machine, on a shelf behind the bed."

The first area of concern was the statement that the maid made concerning the secret mechanism. It was frankly, impossible. Whatever mechanism moved that wheel, there is absolutely no way that it could be driven by the means described. Twelve feet across or 3.6 metres - eighteen inches thick or 45.7 centimetres and weighing an estimated 700 lbs or 318 Kilograms, and the whole construction turned on a pair of bearings measuring just three-quarters of an inch! And what is more, accelerated from a very slow speed to one of between twenty-five and twenty-six revolutions per minute, in just three revolutions. The maid says that the posts were hollowed out and a barbed piece of iron inserted and connected to the shaft journal. Anyone giving reasonable consideration to this account of the maid's, will see that the power and strength required to keep a machine of this size turning, by applying its force through the bearings, would be enormous - and besides where would one find a metal of sufficient strength to withstand the tremendous load placed on it. Not only that - it had to be kept turning for almost eight weeks - and was expected do work; raise a box of bricks weighing seventy pounds and turn an Archimedean screw. Forget the problem of actually devising a mechanism which would operate inside a wooden post connected to a bearing at one end and a small wheel at the other!

Bessler’s wife had died in 1726 and only a few months later on the 28th November 1727,  the maid accused Bessler of fraud, this was shortly after Karl retired and although removing his patronage he gave Bessler the use of a house and garden in Karlshafen.  He also dismissed the maid’s accusations. He advanced Bessler five years salary to enable him to continue to develop and sell his wheel.  This marked the end of Karl’s protection against the slanderous publications of his enemies, Gärtner, Wagner and Borlach.  They grabbed the opportunity to lambast Bessler and his wheels with enthusiasm, driven by either jealousy or indignation.

The maid, Anne Rosine, from Mauersberg, a town less than 5 miles from Bessler’s father-in-law had been brought to Hesse Kassel, by Bessler and his new wife, as agreed between Bessler and his future father-in-law.  She had been a constant thorn in the side of the mayor and chief physician of Annaberg-Bucholz, Dr Christian Schumann. He had had her imprisoned twice for spreading malicious gossip about him and his family.

Christian Schumann agreed to the marriage as long as Bessler took the troublesome maid with him to Gera, some one hundred miles away in those days, plus of course a dowry.

The maid was often seen about the Landgrave’s court as witnessed by one of the female courtiers and it is possible that she met with Christian Wagner and/or Gärtner. Although Gärtner died in February of that same year 1727, he may have been the guiding force trying to out Bessler as a fraud.

As soon as he moved out of the castle and took up residence at Karlshafen, Bessler’s wife’s mother, now a widow with no money, suddenly arrived with her two other daughters and son-in-laws.  They joined forces with Bessler’s erstwhile maid and began to try to extort money and favours from him.  Suddenly out of Karl’s protection and being harassed by a small family of criminals, Bessler soon lost all of his money to their controlling and coercive behaviour.

So two pieces of evidence against Bessler and both deeply flawed.

JC

Bessler’s Wheel vs Von Helmholtz’s Axiom.

I have always believed that Bessler’s wheel was genuine and it was enabled to turn by the action of gravity upon the weights inside.  This is not a dramatic revelation nor something that is against what Bessler said about his machine. I think that Herman von Helmholtz was incorrect to say that because no perpetual motion machines had ever been invented it was safe to make it an axiom that they were impossible.  The definition of Perpetual Motion has changed somewhat since 1847 when he wrote his treatise on the conservation of energy, and more so since Bessler’s claims in 1712. But I believe Helmholtz was wrong to say such a machine had never been invented, he ignored Bessler’s, so his axiom was indisputably incorrect, which throws into doubt everything he deduced from the axiom

The difference is clear; Helmholtz was referring to an isolated machine with no external source of energy which might spin for short time if given a push but would stop once that initial energy was used up.  Bessler was referring to a machine which had a continuous external source of energy.  The energy came from the falling of certain weights which were moved by the force of gravity. These were two different machines even though we refer to both as PM machines.

Here we come up against the belief that this cannot be a perpetual motion machine because the weights have to be lifted once they have fallen and the energy available was used in the fall of each weight. Clearly Bessler found a way to lift each weight using certain attributes of his configuration of the internal mechanisms.  One clue lies in the witness statements which informed us that  the first wheels were self starters, beginning to rotate as soon the brake was released; they were in a permanent state of imbalance.

JC

The True Story of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine - Update

At the end of March we sold our house and moved in with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, expecting to be there for no more than two or three months. Yet here we are close to nine months later, finally hoping to move into our new house before Christmas, but maybe middle of January next year.

For the whole of that time I’ve been without a workshop and it has been soooooo frustrating! I can’t wait to move in, get my workshop up and running and produce a working model of Bessler’s wheel. I’ve had so much time to think and plan and I remain confident that success will come in 2022.

So in the mean time once more, here are the details about Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus and his amazing Perpetual Motion Machine. Plus details of how to order his biography and his books which each include English translations.

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 it. Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, he devised 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 several years Karl aged and it was decided that the inventor should leave 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 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 and the buyer take the machine without viewing the internal workings. 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 76). 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. Subsequently 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/see 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?" 

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 www.free-energy.co.uk

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.

As I often say, the solution to this device is needed now. Anything that might help cleanse the planet of pollution and help to reduce green house gas emissions, by providing a clean cheap alternative energy source should encouraged in its discovery and development to counter global warming.

JC

Johann Bessler’s Portrait Lies Behind A Geometer

I planned to share a lot of clues in this blog but time is short, so I’ll give you a hint at what I’m going to share in the next one. First of all I want to share some information about the portraits that Johann Bessler placed in one of his books.

The mystery which lies in front of the portrait of Johann Bessler in the front of his book, Das Triumpirende Perpetuum Mobile ORFFYREAN may be less mysterious than it appears to be..  

Bessler placed his own portrait behind another one of an older style which had a number of scientific instruments displayed. He seems to have taken some care to find a portrait which matched his own in size and position. He carefully cut out the face of the old style portrait and lined them up so precisely that his own face appeared to be looking through.

See his portraits below

Now you see him looking through the older portrait below. Note the instruments at the bottom of the portrait.

In this last one you can see how the portraits were arranged, the one with the hole in it folded over the Bessler portrait.

 

I believe that the figure in the older portrait with the hole in it is a Geometer or what is sometimes a called Geometrician.

According to various dictionaries a geometer/geometrician is a mathematician specializing in geometry. A list of famous Geometers includes, Archimedes, Pythagoras, Apollonius and of course, Euclid.  

Geometers are concerned with properties of space that are related with distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures.

In his Apologia Poetica Bessler tells us that, “I became an expert in astronomical matters and in the calculation of calendars. The surveying of woods, meadows and fields was another serious pursuit for me. I’m sure he was familiar with the instruments common to both Geometers and surveyors.

So I looked into the history of Geometric instruments and found several pictures and here are some I found which, as can be seen, are similar to the ones at the bottom of the Geometer portrait.

This picture just above came from “Giacomo & Domenico Lusverg, Box of mathematical instruments, 1688 - 1710. Rome, Italy. Brass, Copper, Glass, Steel. Medici collections. Museo Galileo”.

That he saw himself as a Geometer, makes the most sense in my opinion, but what is he telling us?  Bearing in mind that Euclid, for instance was included in the list of famous Geometers, as was Pythagoras, I’m not surprised that Bessler included himself in that illustrious list.  He did title himself, Doctor of Mathematics, Medicine and Perpetual Motion. So I think he regarded himself as a Geometer.  The older portrait included many of the instruments he would be familiar with.

The fact that he appears to be looking through the eyes of a Geometer, suggests he wanted us to see him as a geometer and that we should be looking for evidence of his geometrical figures in his own portrait and they are there. If you to go to my web site at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/2nd_portrait.html for just a hint at what is there, I should warn you that the pentagram is wrong but the concept is right. I posted that web site ten years ago and much has changed since then.

Much greater detail to follow.

JC

The TOYS Page, 137, 141 and 47 and the Freemasons.

Many here will be aware that the ‘Toys’ page in Johann Bessler’s Maschinen Tractate was numbered MT 138,  139, 140 and 141.  I suggested that the drawings he destroyed or buried were replaced by this curious page of what appear to be toys, but perhaps there was another reason.

 The previous page was numbered MT137, which was the logical number for the preceding page.  As I pointed out previously MT137 contains the musical ‘circle of fifths’, plus if you use two radii to divide a circle according to the golden ratio it yields sectors of approximately 137° (1.618, the golden ratio) and 222°, hence the number 137. 

So 360/1.618 = 222.5 .  360-222.5=137.5 Curiously 1/137.5 = 00727272727 etc.  5x72=360.

The pentagram is of course constructed with numerous examples of the golden ratio.

I should add there is a huge amount of discussion in scientific circles about the mystery of the number 137. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/137_(number)

The final number on the Toys page is 141, is an interesting choice.  The number of Bible references in Bessler’s Declaration of Faith also number 141. Only 3 and 47 are divisors of  141. This brings to mind Euclid’s 47th problem. MT47 has a curious feature, the number 47 is repeated upside down within the drawing.

Bessler seems to be underlining the importance of the number 47. It could suggest the requirement for a 3:4:5 right angle in his wheel?

Other reasons occur to me which could explain Bessler’s inclusion of these numbers but it would be too much speculation at this point.

I’m aware of suggestions that Bessler was involved with FreeMasonry and so I offer the following information gleaned from 

https://bricksmasons.com/blogs/masonic-education/the-47th-problem-of-euclid

“The 47th Problem of Euclid or 47th Proposition of Euclid is also known as the Pythagorean Theorem. It is represented by three squares.

The symbol of the 47th problem of Euclid looks mysterious to the uninitiated, and a lot of them often ponder on what this Masonic symbol means.

Some Masonic historians describe the 47th Problem of Euclid as something that connotes a love of the sciences and the arts. But that definition leaves a lot unsaid. In this article, we’ll shed more light on the 47th Problem of Euclid. Our explanation will include the Masonic Square along with Pythagoras’s Theory.

Euclid 

Euclid is known as the Father of Geometry. He lived several years after Pythagoras, and he continued the work of Pythagoras. Euclid focused mainly on the 3:4:5 ratio puzzle. Some sources have it that he had to make a sacrifice of 100 cattle or oxen before he could solve the puzzle. Some other sources have it that the Egyptians had long solved the puzzle before he did.

The Pythagoras Theorem 

The Pythagoras theorem states that in a right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares on the two sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. So, for a right-angled triangle with lengths of sides in the ratio 3:4:5, ‘5’ represents the hypotenuse or the longest side.

3: 4: 5

32: 42: 52

9: 16: 25

9 + 16 = 25

The first four numbers are 1, 2, 3 and 4. Let us write down the squares of these numbers.

      12:22:32:42   

      1: 4: 9: 16  

When you subtract each square from the next one, you get 3, 5, 7.

4-1 = 3            

9-4 = 5 

16-9 = 7

The ratio 3: 5: 7 is very important. The ratio represents the steps in Freemasonry. They are the steps are the exact number of brothers that form the number of Master Masons needed to open a lodge.

3 Master Mason

5 Fellow Craft

7 Entered Apprentice

3: 5: 7 represents the steps in the Winding Stair that leads to the Middle Chamber.

The 47th Problem of Euclid is necessary for constructing a foundation that is architecturally correct as established by the use of the square. This is important to Operative Masons as well as Speculative Masons.

The 47th Problem of Euclid is a mathematical ratio that allows a Master Mason to square his square when it is out of square.  

In the old days, old wooden carpenter squares had one longer leg because they were created using the 3: 4: 5 ratio from the 47th problem of Euclid. But carpenters of today use squares that have equal legs.

If you have four sticks and a piece of string, you can work out the 47th Problem of Euclid on your own. You will be able to create a perfect square with these. The string should be about 40 inches in length, and the four sticks must be strong enough to stick into soft soil. You will also need a black marker to mark the rope.”

I remain unconvinced of Bessler’s membership of the Masons, but he seems to have had some knowledge or interest in them.

JC