The Code to Success - Bessler’s Wheel.

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by inference, that he had placed clues to the design of his machine in a number of places in his books as well as his unpublished work, Maschinen Tractate.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

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  In addition I searched and found additional clues in his unpublished work, a collection of drawings demonstrating various attempts at building Perpetual Motion machines, which I called Maschinen Tractate or MT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

JC

The Toys Page - 138, 139, 140 and 141

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A Gärtner is a breaker of fences

A Waggoner leaves ruts

Meanness is the root of evil

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

JC

The Reason Why Johann Bessler Left Behind So Many Clues.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JC

Why I Continue to Seek Johann Bessler’s Secret?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JC

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

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

                                       

                                       HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

I’m back!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JC

Johann Bessler aka ORFFYREUS - My Biography plus his own 4 Books each with full English Translation. Available from here.

I ran a blog here for thirteen years but as my research is beginning to show promise I have closed the blog until such a time as I can either share the results of my research or proclaim success in building a working model.  The blog closed Tuesday 25th October 2022 and will hopefully return early in 2023.  You can access the whole thirteen years of blogs plus all the comments, from the panel on the right.

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

                                          

                            

Final Blog About Our Search for the secret of Bessler’s Wheel.

I must thank all the kind people who have visited this blog over many years.  I have welcomed thousands of comments, some serious some not so.

I’ve  posted 754 times and received 28783 comments, had 1688739 visitors, from all over the world. It’s been an excellent experience and hope I’ve managed to spread information about Johann Bessler as far and as wide as possible.

I began to write my biography of Johann Bessler back in 1994, but I couldn’t find a publisher then, although I only approached about 50, but my MS was too long at the time and Bloomsbury publishing said if I could shorten it by half they would consider it.  Unfortunately they were taken over by another publisher and their list of potential authors was scrapped.  I decided to self-publish although there was little information available at that time.  I was not computer literate but I managed.  The internet was young and I also designed and posted my first web site in 1997, see below courtesy of ‘the way back machine’

https://web.archive.org/web/19980118081552/http://www.free-energy.co.uk/

Subsequently I had at one time eight web sites, all but one devoted to Bessler, but I let some go but I will continue to keep the current ones, some of which describe the codes and clues I’ve discovered and solved.

I began this blog on 9th February 2009, and I wrote:

“ Why am I writing a blog? I'm not sure, I don't even know for sure what's going to be in it, but I do know that someone (me!) has to get people interested in Johann Bessler also known by the weird name Orffyreus. Having spent most of my life researching the history of this man, I decided to set it all down in a book. The book covers everthing I could find about Bessler but it only scratches the surface of the facts regarding his codes. Yes, he left information about the secret of his machine encoded in his own writings This guy holds the secret to our future energy needs. The fact that he's dead is something of a stumbling block but don't let that put you off. It seems that he left pointers to his secret so all we have to do is find the information, decipher it and build our super new machine for supplying energy. Oh! Did I say he died nearly three hundred years ago? No? Sorry. Fortunately he left behind a huge collection of clues, hints and mysterious pictures all of which form part of the mystery - and the answer. I call it The Orffyreus Code! I know everyone's got codes in their titles, but this one is a real code Now, I've been ranting and raving about good old Johann since 1997 and those who have followed my lead and are now devoted fans form an enormous minority of the worlds population at about 0.000034%. and climbing! Maybe there should be a couple more zeros in there? Enough for now but I'll be back. JC

I’m not giving up on trying to recreate Bessler’s wheel, and I’ve made some important discoveries in Johann Bessler’s clues so I’m confident I can succeed.  But the urge to share what I know so far is no longer a temptation because I know that my explanation through this and other web sites will just get lost and maybe ignored among the competing designs, ideas, simulations and  actual builds.  

There will come a time when I decide to share my information and that will be when either I succeed with a working model, or it fails and I accept defeat. That defeat will allow me to publish everything I’ve discovered and hope there is enough new information to inspire someone else to take forward what I’ve achieved so far.

But if I succeed as I expect, it will be wonderful to prove that Johann Bessler did not lie.  How will the world react to that news?  How many people quietly working on trying to recreate Bessler’s wheel will be pleased and how many disappointed that they were beaten?  How many will claim that they too had succeeded?  I don’t know but it seems to me that at this moment in human history, this invention is needed desperately.

I’ve decided to stop posting blogs, for more than one reason.  Firstly it’s difficult to keep coming up with a new subject after nine years!  Secondly, people get irritated with me because they feel that I don’t keep my promises.  I do actually, I try to keep them open ended, but I should recognise that sometimes they aren’t fulfilled as people expect. The trouble is, I’m an incurable optimist, you have to be, in this field of study, and I keep making the mistake of promising too much, too soon, resulting in a lot of disappointment!  Finally, this blog was intended to provide an open forum for comments, discussion, airing of views and ideas; but in the recent past it has become infested with trolls and sock puppets.  There is, of course, always the option for anyone else to offer something similar or better.

So I’m leaving a brief description of the legend of Bessler’s wheel, and links to all five of my books which always available both digitally and printed hard copy.  I will probably return from time to time if I feel I have something of interest, but at the moment I think it will most likely be because I’ve succeeded - or failed! And of course there will be the publication of my own great treatise on the detailed description and meaning of Johann Bessler’s codes and clues.

JC

Where visitors to this blog came from:-

Could Bessler have Given More Convincing Demonstrations?

We’ve often discussed Johann Bessler’s predicament; how could he convince a potential buyer that his claims that his wheel could turn continuously with no obvious external source of energy were genuine, without allowing the buyer access to the internal workings of the wheel?  Patent laws were at their very beginning and weak, short lived and open to abuse.  Many patents that were granted were either for unproven designs, or accidentally duplicated for different applicants - and provisionally for ten years, although both Newcomen and Savery had their patents extended before they ran out.

So what are the choices, and how do you prove that the machine is genuine?  Only by demonstrating what it can do; make it as easy as possible to show that there can be no connection with any external source of energy; run an endurance test to prove it can run continuously, provide alternative bearing sets open to thorough examination - and one more thing.  Find a person of unimpeachable reputation, who could not and would not allow himself to be associated with any fraudulent, criminal activity.  Persuade him to examine the machine and if he agrees that it is real, issue a certificate endorsing and approving the inventor’s claims.  Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was such a man.  I’m not going to discuss the Karl’s impressive reputation here, it’s in my biography of Bessler, but he was well regarded throughout the various nations in Europe and was a trusted negotiator for peace among the various warring nations of the time.

These ideas came from the mind of Gottfried Leibniz in close discussion with Bessler and seem to have encouraged the inventor to go ahead with the plans in the hope that they would result in a sale.

Bessler was not alone in keeping the details of design secret.  Thomas Newcomen went to great lengths to keep the details of his steam engine design secret.

“In his ‘The Steam-Engine of Thomas Newcomen’, the author L.T.C. Rolt says that drainage in mines was just as big a problem on the continent as it was in Britain, and mines owners there were naturally interested in the Newcomen engine. 'A number of continentals visited Britain and at least one disguised himself as an artisan to discover the secrets of the engine.’”

“ The fame of this excellent pumping engine soon spread across England and many people came to see it, both from England and from foreign nations. All of them wanted to make use of the invention at their own mines and exerted themselves to acquire the knowledge needed to make and erect such a wonderful engine, but the inventors, Newcomen and Calley (Newcomen's original assistant) were exceedingly jealous and very anxious to preserve exclusively for themselves and their children, the knowledge of making and operating their invention, which had cost them such unprecedented toil. Even the Spanish ambassador to the Court of St. James's who came all the way from London with a large suite of foreigners, to see the engine, was not even allowed to enter the engine house however large a reward he offered and had to return very dissatisfied without having seen anything but the wonderful results, that this small engine was able to produce.'

Above quotations from my book, “Perpetual Motion, An Ancient Mystery Solved”.

Could Bessler have adopted a similar method?  I doubt it because his machine was so much simpler and cheaper to build, and whereas Newcomen insisted on providing relatives in the earlier installations to help operate and train the owners while controlling knowledge of the technology involved, Bessler’s machine was simple and easy to build and operate.  We know this because Karl commented thus.

He could only try what he did try, and apart from asking a lower price there isn’t much he could do to improve his chances of a sale.  Subsequently lowering the price might be thought of as an admission that he had asked too much in the first place which might make people think he was just greedy.

What is beyond question is that his wheel was enabled to turn continuously by the force of gravity on the weights.  This is an extraordinary situation; for more than 300 years we have been taught that what Bessler did is impossible.  Clearly it is not impossible and therefore what we have been taught is wrong.  At some point in the future a version of Bessler’s wheel will appear and the scientific institutions will have sit up and take notice.  I can’t wait!

JC

Johann Bessler’s Price for his PM machine was Too High.

When Johann Bessler built his perpetual motion machine, he dreamed of fame and fortune but he struggled to find a formula which would persuade any potential buyers to go ahead and buy it.  Gottfried Leibniz gave him some sound advice which he followed.  

First he had to persuade people that his machine was genuine and that he was not a crook, swindler or hustler.  This was difficult in those times with several of the latter sort all competing to extract some pecuniary benefit from every a sucker, dupe, mug or sap.  His hands were tied from the start by his not unreasonable requirement that no view of the inside of the wheel would be allowed before a firm agreement to buy at an agreed price had been established.

He feared that if he allowed anyone to see and understand how his machine worked, they could make a similar device and sell it for considerably less, or perhaps teach others how to build their own version. There were no patent laws available to protect his invention, at least not of any worth.  So his demonstrations had to make it clear that it was impossible for him to be found cheating in some way.  

He devised a few illustrations to show what the machine was capable of. He showed it lifting heavy weights up the side of castle; turning an Archimedes pump; he installed two sets of bearings mounted on their own pillars so that he could transport the wheel from one set to the second set.  This allowed each pair to be examined by the many spectators and examiners to check for any signs of fraud. His last demonstration involved the machine being locked in a room for a total of 54 days.  Karl the Landgrave of Hesse, secured the lock with his personal seal and two guards were instructed to guard the door for the duration of the test.  

The exhibitions drew hundreds of people to witness the demonstrations, examine the machine and the bearings, which were left uncovered during the examinations. There was a lot of interest but the inventor had asked too much for the invention.  One hundred thousand Thalers - equivalent to £20,000 at the time.  This was the figure the British government had offered as a reward to the person who invented a way of establishing a ships longitude .  John Harrison won the prize eventually for his marine chronometer. This figure could only be possible for a Prince or an exceedingly wealthy member of the aristocracy and it was to these kind of people that Bessler addressed his plans.  

As an aside Buckingham palace was built in 1706 at a cost of £7000 and adjusted for inflation this equates to a contemporary sum of £1.8 million!  Of course if it had a market value it would exceed 3.7 billion pounds. But according to the web site at, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result Bessler’s £20,000 would be equal to £2,322,150.  But even in 1717 with his £20,000 he could buy for instance 3717 horses, or 4807 cows!  

It is clear from the many letters we have from that time, that Bessler’s machine attracted a lot of attention and was promoted among the neighbouring kings and princes. Despite the convincing evidence that his machine actually worked just as it’s inventor claimed, no one was prepared to take what appeared to be something of a gamble, and agree to pay the price asked.  Actually there was one man who wished to buy it.  The Czar of Russia, Peter the Great, determined to bring his country up to date by founding universities, school, libraries and importing professors, teachers and craftsmen in the most useful trades, etc, was persuaded to visit Bessler and had made arrangements for payment in full …but unfortunately died on his journey to Kassel.  One wonders how things might have changed if he had succeeded in his plan.

News of the invention and how it was being used would have spread quickly just as Newcomen’s steam engine did and was used extensively to pump water from flooded mines. I’m not sure if it could have survived the steam age but it could have lived on among those few who were attracted to the concept of a free energy machine and awaited it’s rediscovery just in time to help with today’s problems.

In one of his books he says that he was told that if he was able to build a working PM machine it would be worth a ton of gold.  A ton of gold is worth, very roughly, £41,517.000.

In the end I think he asked way too much for his invention.

JC

NB.  Copies of books about Johann Bessler and his own publications are available from this blog.  See the side panel at both the top and bottom.