Use it or lose it

Here's a quick update. The situation at present is this. I've just received a signed NDA from Pete Clarke and we have yet to arrange a meeting to discuss our alternative designs and, I hope, take the first steps toward constructing a wheel according to my (Bessler's) design. Pete leads a hectic life and it may be some weeks before we get together and make some progress. In the mean time I am continuing to try to build my own proof of principle wheel and maybe I won't need Pete's help if I can finish it successfuly in the next few days.

I'm also writing up my research and this is time-consuming because I need to describe my theory and show why it will work without compromising the laws of physics (which I can do). I am also providing supporting evidence from the descriptions of witnesses as well as Bessler's own words. But in addition I am citing as confirmation that my design matches Bessler's almost exactly by including my decoding of Bessler's many many clues, most which I have not published so far, because they are too revealing!

I am a sudoku addict and have been for three or four years because I find that it stimulates my thought processes. According to Ronald Kotulak, a Pulitzer prize-winning author, mental training in old age can boost intellectual power, and help maintain mental functions like problem solving, and also reverse memory decline. He reckons that even if they haven't received the benefits of good early education and experience, older adults can still do much to keep their brains in shape. That's my experience too. My powers of recall had faded significantly but recently there has been some improvement. [Ronald Kotulak. "Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works" (Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997)].

Marilyn Albert, a Harvard University neurologist and director of gerontology research at Massachusetts General Hospital, studied more than 1,000 people ages 70 to 80. She found that both physical and mental factors seem to determine which elders hold on to their intellects. Key elements revealed in the study were education, which appears to increase the number and strength of synaptic connections; strenuous activity, which improves blood flow to the brain; lung function, which ensures that the blood is adequately oxygenated; and the feeling that what people do makes a difference in their lives.

Kotulak quoted Albert, "Is mental exercise important for the brain? People used to ask me that years ago, and I would say we don't have enough data one way or another. I don't say that anymore. I tell them that's what the data look like: Use it or lose it.

So as well as researching Bessler's wheel, doing sudoku, acrostik crosswords and reading, I cycle for roughly an hour each day; I used to run, and have done four London marathons and competed in numerous smaller events, but acquired a prolapsed disc about four years ago which prevents my running. I have designed an amazing machine with which I hope to cure my disc problem but lack of money and time means its on the back-burner 'til I get this wheel going. I believe that the mental stimulation I get and intensive excercise will keep my mind alert and functioning for at least as long as the body does -well I hope so anyway. ;-)

Of course I'm only 65, a relative youngster, but it's as well to try to keep everything working to the best of its ability.

The thing about sudoku is this; when you 'discover' the next number, you get this mental kick, which spurs you on to the next one. The 'discovery' is 'rewarded' with a quick shot of dopamine. This is the 'jolt' that induces euphoria and combines the initial reward and subsequent reinforcement. Over time and with repeated exposure, these jolts initiate the gradual adaptations in the reward circuitry that give rise to addiction. Which is why I'm addicted to sudoku!

But I think that this is related to the addiction we Besslerfiles get when we think we have 'discovered' the secret. It does not matter that in due course we find we were mistaken; the 'jolt' has already been received and we seek another one and that is why we continue to research this 'science'. It's the same mechanism that causes people to become drug addicts, but in our case it may turn out to be a beneficial addiction.

JC

Hands-on wins over CAD every time

OK, just to continue comments on a new page to save making the page any longer! Some people have assumed that I used computer aided design software in my work to reconstruct Bessler's wheel and on discovering that I don't, the very reasonable question raised - why not? It was further commented that you can get immensely powerful CAD/CAM programs for free, and that you don't need much power to design Bessler's wheel. I have used this kind of software in the past and found that it does require a more powerful computer than mine is (it kept freezing) but also it does not do the job and I'll explain why.

I have always had a hands-on approach to this problem because I find that having the pieces in my hands can show me more effectively than all the fancy software can, how minor alterations to length, angle, weight and position can produce different results/reactions. What do I mean by hands-on? It means that I need active participation as opposed to the theoretical approach of computer software. Without a hands-on approach I don't get the feedback necessary to this kind of research. It is not always possible to test every potential alteration with the kind of software currently available for free and which will work on a home PC. In my experience you have to input each variation of angle, length, weight or position and run the test but the results are not always informative and a hands-on test will suggest other possibilities not recognisable in a software run. You cannot imagine every possible variation and just input it - without the pieces in your hand and arranged and rearranged on the work bench you simply will miss opportunities that occur to you as you manipulate them.

Only those who routinely use hands-on building practice will understand my point of view and I suspect that those who favour the CAD/CAM approach wil make the counter argumenty equally effectively, nevertheless that is how I work and although it takes much longer than using computer aided design it will, in my opinion, win out in the end.

JC

I'll publish and probably be damned.

Wow - my shortest post and it gets the most responses! Thanks for the comments, guys. With the emails I got too, the picture I have in my mind is very mixed and it suggests that what ever I do there will be some for and some against my actions, in which case I might as well do what ever I want. The only certainty as far as I can see is that the sooner this is out in the open the better. I haven't talked to Pete yet as he is very busy but I have sent him a signed NDA and I await its return. In the meantime I continue to work on my own prototype and I'm finishing off the document I began a while ago which explains everything in detail along with all the clues I found and my interpretation of them. I'm also planning another video which explains in simple terms the principle that drives Bessler's wheel and I'll youtube it when its finished.

I could start a thread on http://besslerwheel.com/ and respond to posts but I want to answer as many possible questions in advance by placing as much information as I can in one place so that I don't have to spend too much time defending my argument. For that reason I won't prejudice my stance by posting a brief summary of my principle there but will try to get it right first time and post at my leisure. That doesn't mean I won't respond to any comments that evetually appear - I just want to get my point across as clearly as I can.

JC

Decision time

I have of course realised that it's May already and I've missed my ETA for the finished wheel by several months (years?) .... Things have a habit of diverting one's attention from one's intended purpose and I am perhaps more guilty than most. Nnotwithstanding, I am constantly working on adjusting the mechanisms to try to make them do what I want them to do and although I have said countless times that I understand the principle or the concept which makes Bessler's wheel work ... it is taking the very devil of a long time to get it right.

I sometimes liken it to understanding an auto engine - you understand the concept and what the various parts do, but it would be difficult to make one that works without constantly refining and adjusting each part. Anyway I'm on the verge of giving up. I have three options open to me; first I can continue to try with the help of Clarkie, but I'm not sure how long that may take; secondly, I can involve Hal Puthoff and see where that gets me - or doesn't - or finally I can publish everything in a book, on-line and through a video. I'm looking at the last option.

JC

Electricity - life without it is so basic!

My daughter and son-in-law are coming home from Spain by plane today - Hurrahhh! I thought at one point I was going to have to fetch'em. Now I can get back to work on the wheel!

Their recent experiences have highlighted two of the most important inventions of our lives. Firstly their electrical fire which resulted in no electricity for a week. No light, no heat, no freezer or fridge so no perishable food in the house;
no cooker so no cooking, no hot water so no washing, no TV, no computer, no internet, no telephone. no charging of mobiles. They played scrabble with the kids by candlelight!

The second thing was the grounding of all aircraft. The chaos that ensued was uttlerly incredible. People walked the lines of cars waiting to cross the channel offering cash for a seat in a car. Others hired cars and dumped them at the port. So many stories! We use aircraft routinely to travel to distant places in a hours - places which would have taken weeks to get to a hundred years ago, and when they fail for some reason we are thrust back to that era and rediscover the problems people used to have just getting around.

When I was researching my book, "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" I read about an Englishman who bought paintings done in Italy and carried them home to London where he sold them to the rich. He walked to Italy and walked back again! He did this several times and became extremely rich - and footsore!

I can't say Bessler's wheel would have had any impact on the grounding of all aircraft but it would have a major benefit for the domestic electricity user!

I have now got two designs of mechanism both of which will operate according to the principle by which Bessler's wheel worked. I'm using one design for now just to prove the principle. The two mechanisms work in different ways but they achieve the same ends and I think there may be another way too, because what I have does not accord precisely with Bessler's designs as far as I can tell. There are common parts but there is not 100 per cent match.

JC

Volcanos, Fires and delay!

I expect most people know someone who is delayed by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano system which began spewing volcanic ash over everyone and caused the closure of airspace in most of Europe. We are awaiting the return of my daughter and son-in-law who went to Spain for a few days while their homes was rewired and we redecorated it.

I may have mentioneded it already but, a few weeks ago they suffered a fire at their home due to an an electrical fault which resulted in three fire engines turning up. In fact there wasn't any actual fire, just billowing toxic smoke and a vile smell. The firemen had a heat sensitive camera and identified a couple of hot spots,which showed the source of the wiring fault.

Dave and Jo had actually boarded the plane before their return flight was cancelled and now they are trying to find alternative means of getting home. We volunteered to drive there and bring them home but it's 24 hours non-stop driving each way plus £500 worth of petrol - not to mention the price hike on the channel tunnel- £200 each way! They have looked at getting back by train (only 22 and a half hours!). But the trains, buses and ferry's are all over-subscribed and you can't even get a reservation through the internet for the web sites crashing. So they are destined to stay until the wind changes direction or the volcano runs out of steam!

Given this situation, I'm afraid I haven't been able to get much done lately in progressing my Bessler wheel to completion, but I still get some work done when I can grab a minute. I have been designing and building gravity wheels for most of the last thirty years, but not at an intense rate - just returning to it as and when the fancy takes me. So the present pressure to finish and publish information about either a working model or my work on it, is an unaccustomed burden that I am finding difficult to accept - even though I understand everyone's impatience. I am neither naive nor psychologically unable to finish what I started, as has been suggested. I just push back when pushed.

For those who think I'm wasting my time and their's I would say this. Wasting my time is doing anything that doesn't contribute to my goals. My goals are to either to build a working Bessler wheel or, failing that, publish my own work on it - and at the same time respond to my family's needs. One or both goals will be achieved - but not at the expense of my family. I'm as eager to finish this project as anyone else, and sharing what I know is a matter of tremendous anticipation for me. If I'm wasting your time...well the remedy is in your hands, but I should be sorry to see you go.

I found the principle by studying Bessler's clues and that option is available to everyone, although I did serendipitously stumble across a helpful clue via the internet. The clue was also in Bessler's books but I had previously ignored it or rather, not recognised it for what it was.


JC

Patent? No thanks.

The subject of patenting has arisen again and I'd still prefer not to patent, assuming I was in a position to consider patenting Bessler's wheel.

I understand the advantages of patenting such an invention, having had them drummed into me constantly by people who are both pro-patent and fully versed in the intricacies of the legal protection system, but there are a couple of disadvantages which to my suspicious mind, outweigh any advantage you care to name.

The first is the expense. Although the total fees only add up to £200 in the UK, there are other costs such as patent agents fees, renewal fees as well as the possible cost of enforcing your patent which will add significantly to this initial cost. I couldn't write it myself so I'd have to pay some patent attorney to do it for me. No, trust me, I couldn't write it for myself. I am reliably informed that it could cost over £30,000 to get patent protection across Europe and further afield; and a simple dispute could cost over £200,000 if not resolved out of court.

Now I know that many will immediately suggest such fears are groundless; "think of the fortune you will be getting! The cost will be peanuts compared to what you will receive," some will say. Although potentially true, there is one small point that has been overlooked and that, or rather she, is my wife. There is no way she is going to allow me to remortgage our home to finance the patenting of a machine whose very existence is denied by science. So that's that.

Then there is the more spooky prospect which I have also been relentlessly warned about. Should I have the temerity to go ahead and make my outrageous patent application despite my beloved's warnings of impending doom, if I decide to follow that route, I have to face the distinct possibility that certain sinister groups, mascarading as gentlemen in dark attire, will pounce upon my patent and seize it and all persons connected with it and bury the lot in some secret location, never to be seen again.

Seriously, there is a mechanism whereby the British government oversees all patent applications to ensure that there is no chance that they might conflict with their interests, with a view to censoring the release of information on the subject. It is a distinct possibility that any government might, for its own purposes - i.e. tax revenue - wish to seek control of such an invention. Such action, however remote the possibility, means that I could not afford to apply for a patent just in case it never sees the light of day. Although I cannot answer for other patent offices in other countries, I am of the opinion that all of them have similar options available to them.

I don't even accept that patenting is the right thing to do in this case. If I succeeded it wouldn't be my invention, but Bessler's. I couldn't have got as far as I have without his help and I shall prove that soon - working wheel or no working wheel.

But the main reason why I wouldn't patent is because such a device needs to be openly discussed and promoted to the whole world. More than enough money would find its way to my bank account for me not to be concerned about losing out on the vast sums of money purported to be mine, should I patent. Books, interviews etc, for a few weeks would more than suffice to replenish the family coffers.

So don't tell me I'd be screwed every-which-way if I didn't patent - its a case of screwed if I do and screwed if I don't!

JC

There's only one Principle for a Gravity-Driven Wheel.

The possibility of making a working gravity-driven wheel which could utilise one of two or even more different principles has surfaced and my first reaction was, yes, it might be possible. However further consideration has cast some doubt in my own mind. It all depends on some differing criteria. My device is designed to work using only the force of gravity, and no additional forces are necessary, other than those subsequently generated by the motion initiated by gravity.

Inventors have sought to design just such a machine for hundreds of years and have, so far as we know, failed. Only Johann Bessler claimed to have succeeded. I have discovered the same principle that Bessler discovered, and I know this because I have found confirmation of the fact, and it was only after I thought I'd had found the answer that I sought and confirmed it for myself in his books.

This principle undoubtedly provides the answer but I have come to the conclusion that there is no alternative design which requires only the force of gravity to initiate it. Anything else will need an additional force of some kind, be it electromagnetic, magnetic, ambient temperature changes etc. So my opinion has changed, and I think there is only one principle which will work to make a gravity-driven wheel rotate, with no additional external forces to aid it.

Of course it might be possible to incorporate this principle and use something other than weights to induce rotation and I have a couple of ideas but they all require an additional force. So it is my opinion that anyone who believes that they may have designed a working device which does not seem, from the slender information given out about it, to require the adoption of this particular principle, is on the wrong track and is surely heading for failure. I may be wrong and it is after all just my opinion, but perhaps I will be able to prove the matter soon.

I realise that gravity-only wheels are almost anathema to many perpetual motionists (in the meaning of anything forbidden by social usage - thank you Nick), but I am confident that a full explanation will desolve those beliefs like sandcastles in the incoming tide.

JC

Horse before cart - or cart before horse - does it matter?

The advice, 'to put the horse before the cart' has cropped up time and time again in reference to Bessler's wheel - and mainly because Bessler uses the phrase himself in one of his 'Maschinen Tractate' drawings. It has been self-evident to me that often when discussing the translation of Bessler's words we can make substantial errors of understanding when confronted with eighteenth century German. I recall one phrase from Bessler's 'Poetica Apologia', whose meaning my translator interpreted as 'a land flowing with milk and honey', but which he said was literally, 'a land where roast pigeons fly into your mouth'. The meaning is clear despite the unusual metaphor and it is strange to think that the translator's 'improved' rendering stems from the Hebrew bible.

Although German sometimes follows the same word order as English, it doesn't always. That can lead to confusion and as if that wasn't bad enough there is the problem of interpretation, as illustrated in the following German to English examples:

A sign in a hotel catering to skiers read "Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension".

Another reads, "In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter."

Also there is, "Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up."

And finally in Germany's Black Forest: "It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose." You can see that translating modern German into English is fraught with problems.

Into the recipe for a translation disaster we should throw two more ingredients; one, the original text was written three hundred years ago and was certainly a lot less erudite than say, Samuel Johnson, who lived at roughly the same time. An example of his incomparable style should suffice:

"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Yes I know - not really the same at all, but I just liked the quote! A better example would be this:

"The place, which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abissinian princes, was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits overhang the middle part. The only passage, by which it could be entered, was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it has long been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could, without the help of engines, open or shut them."

Imagine translating that into modern German!

And lastly, the writing of that particular quote about horses and carts was written not only in eighteenth century German, but in the most attrocious handwriting to such an extent that it is barely legible. Despite this considerable handicap there are people who have managed to extract what they believe to be the correct meaning. Given that and the other considerations I have outlined above,a small dash of scepticism is in order.

In any case, in my opinion the advice to put the horse before the cart merely refers to MT 20, the design of which, was ascribed to an aquaintance, and should not necessarily apply to all designs. I don't mean that it is wrong so much as we might have over emphasised its importance.

In fact you could put the horse before the cart and let it push it, but there is a reason why this method was never generally adopted. The harness most commonly used, compressed the poor old horse's windpipe when it pushed, causing potential harm or death. But it is another matter when using mechanical leverage. Levers can push and pull and twist and turn about a pivot so don't rule out putting the cart before the horse.

JC

Nothing else but a working model will do.

I've had to re-assess my plans following a lengthy email from the USA, and it's bad news guys - at least for me anyway. My American contact has decided that although he is curious to see what my paper says, he says he wouldn't be able to form an opinion on the theory detailed in it, without seeing it demonstrated at least in some small way, by means of a working model.

This, he says,is because, according to his current understanding, there is no place for such a machine within the laws of physics. So even though my paper describes how the machine can be explained within those same laws without any conflict, he has made his position clear and I have had to accept that only a working model will persuade him (and anyone else) otherwise.

It may be partly my fault that his thoughts have crystallised along this path, because I asked him what would be his next course of action should my paper convince him that I was right. He explained that even if he thought my theory had merit he would not be able to take any further steps unless I could provide some sort of physical evidence that my theory was based on experimental data rather than mental gymnastics ( my words, not his). Upon consideration I realise that this has been the case all along and I had allowed myself to be persuaded that he would be convinced by my theory and that that alone, would be enough to start the ball rolling (or the wheel spinning!).

I understand his point of view especially considering that he may be in touch with many people such as myself from around the world, all of whom are convinced that they know the secret of Bessler's wheel and are eager to share their thoughts with him. I, of all people, should have remembered that only a working model would ever convince anyone - I've given the same advice to other people often enough - so if I can't share my theory unless it's backed by some kind of mechanism that goes some way towards proving it, then so be it. I must get back into the workshop and try and try until I succeed - or not.

This raises some questions in my mind. My American friend signed an NDA and agreed not to discuss the paper with anyone else, so how could he have initiated some engineering work based on the paper without discussing the project with anyone else? I would have to obtain NDAs off each person involved in building my prototype. If I was able to follow that route and it was found to have worked; how does one proceed then? I don't know. I know that I have his support if I was in that circumstance and could supply him with what he needed, a working model, but I haven't, so there is only one course to follow - build it myself or publish everything and let everyone else build it. If I publish it how do I get some intellectual property protection; some return for my efforts? Patent? Too expensive; may be already covered by prior patent or easily circumvented; not sufficient world coverage (unless you're already a millionair); not acceptable as a gravity-driven device to be taken seriously by patent offices - etc, etc.

So whether it be pride, greed, paranoia or a fit of the sulks - call it what you will, there seems little point in sending my paper to my American contact nor publishing it yet.

Re-evaluating my intentions has been useful to me and I am going to take a little more of this precious time we have at our disposal to continue with my work and hope I can complete my self-imposed mission. Obviously there has to be a cut off point at which I will have to publish, but as I had thought that sharing my paper with my American friend was almost the ultimate path open to me if I didn't make the working model, I now find myself in the position of preferring to continue for a little longer before I give it all away. I have a cut-off point in mind and I will probably adhere to it, but I better not say what that is for fear of having to over-ride it - again!

I intend to remain quiet from now on about my future intentions at least, because I have put my foot in my mouth too many times already! I will keep those who are interested updated about my progress.


JC

Underlying Principles and Design matters

I think I need to explain myself a little better as I have had some questions raised, and although my answers to them seemed clear enough to me, they obviously remain confusing to others.

My use of the word 'principle' may have unintentionally misled some people. In my mind the words 'principle' and 'design' have two different meanings and that is where the confusion may have arisen. I used the word 'principle' to refer to what, in my opinion, is the actual intellectual reason why Bessler's wheel worked. It does not mean the design of the mechanism. The underlying principle could rely on pendulums, or overbalancing by having some weights further from the centre of gravity when on the falling side of the wheel and nearer to it on the rising side; or it might require the use of an additional force such as ambient temperature changes; or electrostatic or magnetic attraction or a combination of them or centrifugal or centripetal forces or something else. Whatever method the wheel uses may constitute the underlying principle if it can be shown how the use of such forces can be applied to make a working gravity-driven wheel.

So when I say I discovered the principle a while ago, sometime last year or maybe earlier, I cannot remember when precisely, but I mean that now, finally, I can describe how it worked without it coming into conflict with any laws of physics. But the understanding did not arrive in a flash as a complete explanation but rather, it crept up on me in bits and pieces and in the same way, understanding developed in bits and pieces and that is why I cannot say definitively that I discovered the principle on such and such a date. There was, however a starting point which was sudden and dramatic, a bit like Bessler's dream, I imagine. But thinking it out was not enough by itself, to immediately design a working mechanism. That has taken time and I have had to constantly refer to Bessler's clues to gain further insights into how it worked.

So the underlying principle came to be understood by me some time last year and the initial flash of insight which eventually led to full understand occured even earlier than that, but I can't remember exactly when, because the insight did not reveal the full understanding immediately, so I did not know how important it was at the time.

Now as to the design, well there have been several but since the second part of last year I have been designing and redesigning a mechanism which is capable of operating according to the underlying principle. Whether you call it a new design or merely an improved design is a matter of personal opinion, but obviously it has changed over that period but only in detail. Again I may have caused confusion by saying when the design was made and the truth is I can't be sure exactly when this current design was first established as the fore-runner of the prototype but it was towards the end of last year.

All you perpetual motionists know that there comes a point where you are sure you have the final design and you want to share the good news. Then you discover a 'minor' hitch which requires some 'adjustment'. I've been there more times than I care to admit and it is hard to go public and admit you got it wrong. For me this last year has been unique because, as I now understand the underlying principle I know that it is the only way to succeed, but the mechanism has proved to be very difficult to design. Without Bessler's clues I would never have got this far. For instance the 'Toys' page is full of information but it is almost useless unless you have most of the design already down on paper.

One thing is clear; the underlying principle can be used by different mechanisms to achieve the same end, so my mechanism may not be exactly the same as Bessler's and I think that he has put clues out which show more than way to take advantage of this principle.

I hope that's clearer but I have feeling that there may be more questions.

JC

Never say never again!

I can see an end to all these years of research - I always was an incurable optimist! I have received a signed non-disclosure agreement from my American professor contact, and I have counter-signed it and returned a copy, so all that remains is for me to finalise my paper and send it to him. I am extraordinarily excited at the prospect that at last someone with intellectual 'clout' (as we say here) will read it and decide what to do about it. I am so certain that the principle I have described is correct and that it is the only explanation for Bessler's wheel, that I am beside myself! Just what does that mean? It doesn't matter - it describes my mood perfectly.

What if he dismisses my theory as garbage? Perish the thought!

In the mean time I'm still grabbing the occasional opportunity to work to finish my wheel.

I have resurrected my facebook account to see if it appeals to me more than before. I also used to have a twitter account but I couldn't see the point of that and shelved it, and I doubt I will ever bother with that again. But then I didn't think I'd start up my facebook again - so never say never!

JC

Time flies - and there isn't enough.

Time is passing at an alarming rate and I don't want to end up being too old to pass on the fruits of my labour, so I think that I must call a halt (officially) to completing my attempt to construct a working Bessler's wheel. I could continue 'to the last syllable of recorded time,' but I have to admit that the passage of time appears to accelerate with age and one must pick a point at which the pursuit of the prize must be subservient to the reality. And the reality is that I must stop sooner or later, not because I don't know how it worked but because I'm having trouble actually making it, and sooner is better than later.

So I have decided that I must share what I know and what I've discovered, and relinquish my manic grip on it, and pass it into the hands of a good American friend so he can test the theory and see if I am a genius - or utterly deluded - and very sad!

To that end I have written requesting an NDA from him which he has obligingly agreed to do, and in the mean time and for the last several weeks I have been writing a long document describing everything. I shall pass this to him, sometime next week I guess, and then I shall await agog (or as the dictionary defines it - highly excited by eagerness, curiosity, anticipation, etc) to hear his opinion.

Should he fail to be persuaded by my amazing vision of how Johann Bessler's wheel really worked, there is one more avenue open to me and, failing that, I shall publish said document for all to read and try to see where I may have gone wrong - and maybe help them towards the real solution.

But of course confidence is sky high that I have got it right, so I have no fear that my learned friend will fail to see the light. In fact my explanation is the only one that fits, unless you think that Bessler lied, and that is now unthinkable.

And of course, like some perpetual motion machine I shall continue to strive to complete this complicated construction in the hope that I shall, in the end, triumph over my artless artificer's actions and make a working wheel!

Sorry for the lousy alliterations, but I find it hard to resist - so I don't ;-)

JC

Why Bessler's wheel was able to accelerate to full speed in three turns.

Further to my last blog,I posted my thoughts on http://www.besslerwheel.com/ forum, about something that to me seemed to be illogical; the fact that the torque appeared to be greater for a one inch movement horizontally on a smaller wheel than on a larger one - and in the process found myself corrected. The torque itself remains the same but the acceleration of the overbalancing effect due to a one inch difference between the two positions horizontally, is greater on a smaller wheel than on a larger one - or when the action takes place closer to the axle. So although my means of getting there was wrong my conclusions were correct.

I had compared the speed of reaction on two rods balanced on a pivot at their mid-point. One rod was two foot long and the other was six foot long. In each case the same weights were attached, one at the end of the rod, the other, two inches inwards towards the centre of rotation, at the other end. The torque was the same in each case but the shorter rod accelerated into its unbalanced position much quicker. This suggested to me that, with the limited range of movement available from my mechanism, it would be react to imbalance more quickly if I placed the weight as close as possible to the axle.

This may explain why Bessler's wheel accelerated to full speed in just three turns - because although the weights moved a small amount, they did so close to the centre of the wheel rather than near the edge. I believe that this is a useful piece of information and one that is generally ignored or perhaps people are unaware of its significance. I certainly didn't consider it of any importance, but when I found I was limited by space for the mechanisms and sought a way around it, this fact supplied not only the solution to the problem but will, I believe, also deliver an improved reaction to the movement of the weight.

JC

Was Bessler's mechanism design counter-intuitive?

I got back to the workshop again yesterday, despite the snow, and made some adjustments to the mechanism. The reason being that while I was kept indoors by a chest infection I kept thinking about the reasons why, in my opinion, Bessler's wheel worked, and at the same time, wondering why none of us had ever thought of the solution. I realised that although the solution is simple enough and we see the principle in operation every day, how you can make use of it is not so easy to work out. As if this did not make the solution harder to find, it was extremely difficult to get the mechanism right because, I discovered during my days off, that the way I had designed it to work was incorrect in one very important detail - a design feature which requires some counter-intuitive thinking.

Even the simple arrangement of two weights diametrically opposite each other on a free-wheeling disc, can, under certain circumstances, give rise to incorrect weight placement when designed to overbalance the wheel. I called this counter-intuitive for good reason. I have only just worked out why Bessler showed some of the mechanisms the way he did, not because they were deliberately done that way to confuse but because that was the correct design for them. I'll explain what I mean in more detail at www.besslerwheel.com in a day or so. But for now I have to work to catch up on the time lost recently.

JC

A vertical or horizontal axis gravity-driven wheel

I was thinking about the fact that windmills can operate in the wind with either vertical of horizontal axes. The axle can either be in-line with the force of the wind or across its path. The same thing applies to water-driven wheels too. Over-shot and under-shot water wheels have an axle which lies across the path of the water. Water turbines have their axle in line with the flow of water. I have from time to time attempted to design a gravity wheel which would have a vertical axis, looking somewhat like the vertical axis windmill that Bessler was building when he died. I have never been able to find a theoretical solution to this problem and yet it seems to me that it ought to be possible.

I hadn't mused upon this question for some considerable time and inevitable my thoughts turned to my current understanding of the principle which works Bessler's wheel and I realised that for the first time I could visualise a workable system using the same principle for a horizontal gravity wheel. I will not be making one soon, as I have to finish my basic model which has had to await my recovery from a secondary infection I got after my cold the other week. But it seems to me that this might be a method of discovering if anyone else's design will work. If it can be converted to work with either a horizontal axis or a vertical one then it just might be the real thing.

JC

A film about Bessler and my life researching him

Since my lung operation in november 2008, I hadn't caught even a sniffle, and that's as well because they warned me never to catch anything ever again! Unfortunately, having managed to stay clear of infection for over a year, since I caught a bad cold on or about Boxing day just gone (2009), I have been having one cold after another and I can't seem to shift it. My wife thinks it's because I spend too much time in my cold old workshop, but actually I wish I could be there for longer, so I can finish the wheel. Now we are back to the arctic conditions and there is no way I can spend any time there even with my faithfull old patio heater. And that's another story. The problem with the heater is that it roasts the top of my head and allows my nether regions to develop icicles - nasty!

Anyway I received an email from a couple of guys who are into film production and they have decided that they want to do a documentary on Bessler and my search for the truth about him. They came here about eighteen months ago and interviewed me on film for about half a day, but since I hadn't heard much from them I thought the project had died. Now however they have time and the project has been revived and they have asked me to write a film script for the documentary.

I've never done one before but I am using the texts of such programs as 'Horizon' and 'Cutting Edge'and similar documentaries as a guide so that I have some idea of how to proceed. I guess that there will be considerable editing to do before it gets the go-ahead. We want to include animations and also visit some of the places where certain events in Bessler's life occurred. Because it is also about my search it will have to be slanted to my perspective which I like - and I may get to do the voice over. Of course it might never get off the ground - unless I produce a working version! Lets hope this cold weather warms up real quick.

JC

I'm 65 today!

I'm 65 today! I can now officially retire...except that I already did so a few years ago. On such a day I am allowing myself a little frivolity and I tried to write a limerick about me for my birthday, but I haven't managed it yet so here's one I wrote about Johann Bessler.

There once was a guy called Orffyreus,

Whose claims were regarded as spurious

He said with some levity

plus a morsel of gravity

The spins of his wheel were continuous!

And if that isn't enough here's one I did earlier:

There once was a guy called Orffyreus

Whose invention, they said, was ingenious.

He created a wheel

but would not reveal

What made it spin so continuous.

I shall of course return to my wheel work and sobriety tomorrow.

JC

The current build and why five?

Here is an update on the current build.

This model has presented some problems which I'm trying to sort out. It is a constant learning process and my latest revelation has explained another aspect of Bessler's clues which I had thought I'd already understood, more or less to my own satisfaction, previously. However I found that I could not make the mechanisms operate exactly as I needed to do, according to the principle I believe lies behind Bessler's wheel and I was tinkering with the various parts of the mechanisms and suddenly grasped why Bessler had done a certain thing and it was a real eureka moment!

I have had a number of these revelations over a period of time and some have turned into cul-de-sacs but others have proved invaluable. I know that I should not parade my hopes so publicly because if I'm wrong its a long way to fall and even further to climb back up - but (and as I heard it said on TV the other day - its a 'J.Lo but') I am so excited at the prospect of finally getting to the end of this life-long search that I cannot contain my exuberance!

I think that people will be surprised at how simple this machine really is. Even though I'm having problems building it, the basic idea is so simple that, as Karl commented, I cannot understand why it hasn't been discovered before. Bessler gives an amazing assortment of clues which all make sense once you have the whole picture but individually they seem to counter each other.

I still maintain my belief that five mechansisms are required and I'll try and explain why without giving too much away. If you assume that a piece of the mechanism has to fall at some point, then it is logical to think that the maximum benefit from that fall will be obtained from a right angled fall, i.e. 90 degrees. You could increase this up to 180 degrees, but half of that fall would be counter productive because .... think, which might be more effective? To start from twelve o'clock and fall to three, or start at three and fall to six o'clock. Any angle outside those two and you stray into the other angle's area of effectiveness.

So a 90 degree fall would fit with a four mechanism wheel. But a fall takes time to start and accomplish what ever it is designed to accomplish, so part of the fall will be ineffective because it is falling and not landing. If you also throw into the mix the fact that the fall cannot start early nor over-run, you can see that although it is designed to fall 90 degrees, in fact it is only going to be effective for slightly less than a full 90 degrees.

What is the next whole number after four that would fulfill the need to have a continuous input from falling weights? Five.

If that is a confusing explanation, I apologise. I thought I'd have a go at explaining my conviction that Bessler used five mechanisms without giving away the solution. Maybe I have?

JC

Gravitywheels for Reactionless Drives?

I'm probably going to be accused of jumping the gun because no such device currently exists, however I, a least, am confident that a reconstruction of a working Bessler wheel is almost upon us, in which case the following speculation might be of interest.

If I am right in my thinking, I believe that the simple fact that Bessler's wheel, or gravitywheel, is a real device then it should be possible to employ, say, an electric motor which can be used to drive it, taking over the role from gravity. What possible reason might one have for doing such a thing? A gravity wheel depends for its power on the force of gravity and what it does is convert the linear force of gravity into a rotational force. If we then apply power to the same device, forcing it to rotate, we should be able to obtain linear thrust, creating a linear propulsion engine or reactionless drive.

This is a well-known characteristic of many mechanical devices. An electric motor is also an electric generator. In its simplest terms you can turn the coil to produce an electric current or you can apply an electric current and turn the coil. So how could we use this potential inertial thruster?

Such a mechanical arrangement has been sought for years for space ship drives. Currently the options are limited to rocket power, although antimatter drives are being researched because it is reckoned to be the most potent fuel known. While 15 tons of chemical fuel were burnt per second to propel a rocket-powered human mission to the moon, just a few tens of milligrams of antimatter will send a ship to Mars, but imagine how much simpler the research would be, and cheaper, if a technique based on a gravity wheel configuration was available.

There are many other potential uses for such a machine and I'm sure that once a working gravitywheel is verified, the floodgates will open and a torrent of new ideas will come pouring out all based on the simple principle of a gravitywheel.

The employment prospects allied to this invention are probably higher than anything else ever invented.

JC

Back to wheel work imminently.

My flu-like symptoms are fading at last (I don't know if it was flu or just a bad cold, but the effect was the same). The weather here in England has been cold, at or below freezing since before Christmas, and well-below at night and we have had several inches of snow and the wind is blowing straight from the Russian steppes - it's cold bbbrrrrrrrr! Last night's temperature fell to 9 degrees below, here and 28 below in Scotland. More snow forecast for this afternoon.

I have cleared a footpath through the snow to my workshop and have dragged an old garden patio heater into it. Unforunately the gas bottle is empty so I am going to get a replacement one today, if I can drive the car to the store without wrecking it - the icy roads round here are lethal! Once the heater's working I shall be able to get back to work and finish this darned wheel!

LATER - got the gas and the heater works!

JC

Happy New Year - and my new year resolution.

Happy New Year to all.

I predict that this year, 2010, will be the year that Bessler's wheel finally returns to its former glory, to spin continuously, powered by gravity.

I have made my New Year's resolution to finish this last prototype of Bessler's wheel as quickly as my health and the weather, allows. If for some reason it doesn't work, I shall publish details of the principle behind it because I know that this at least is correct and it explains why no-one, apart from Bessler, has succeeded in building a gravity wheel, or gravity converter, call it what you want, in recent history. Failure of my wheel to run will be down to my own lack of skill in building it.

My previous predictions have fallen woefully short and my efforts to complete this task sucessfully must be be taxing most people's faith to the limit, but for the first time in my life, I have found the true reason why everyone has failed to date, and it is this knowledge that drives me on.

It was during the first half of 2009 that the truth dawned on me how we might achieve a gravitywheel but it wasn't until the latter half that I actually worked out the real meaning of Bessler's clues and subsequently the actual principle that would drive the wheel.

In the (hopefully) unlikely event that my prototype fails and my published work is also rubbished, I am sure that much progress will have been made leading to a greater understanding of the way the wheel worked. If this leads to someone else succeeding, good luck to them. This task is worth more than a single person's dream.

I added that last paragraph to cover all eventualities but in fact I don't anticipate complete failure as described, but if it happens it happens and I shall admit my fault with as much grace as I can (probably grudgingly) muster!

JC

More cold, and a cold.

Well I shouldn't be criticised for having good intentions but even the safest-seeming plans can suddenly become too hard to accomplish - they can go astray at nature's whim. Only days ago I believed the cold snap was over. Soon I would be back in my workshop to finish my final prototype (as I like to think of it); Christmas day followed with all the glad familial diversions it brings; more of the same on Boxing Day, to recover and then the freezing temperatures returned and I awoke with a throat that felt as if broken fingernails were wripping it apart! A fresh fall of snow of some 8 inches is forecast and it looks though my plans have been scuppered again!

It is only just over a year (November 5th) since I had a large portion of my right lung removed to rid me of a small benign tumour. I asked if I needed to take any precautions after my surgery and was told "no, just steer clear of infections"; I saide "OK - for how long?" "For ever" was the response.

So = now I have an infection and I have to keep warm - what a "*^$-8:/><*!"

I have finished my 'paper' on the workings of the gravitywheel and I'm ready to go public but just let me try to complete this final fiasco first ! (I love alliterations - in fact I find 'front'-rhymes fascinatingly fortuitous. The repetitive rearrangement of rhyming rear-end rhymes rate rather less rewardingly for reasons I realize are probably personal.)

I'll be back as soon as possible, confidence is sky high!

JC

Too cold! Time is short! More Bessler stuff decoded.

Since the weather has been consistently on or below freezing since my last blog entry, it has proved extremely uninviting and inhospitable in my workshop; so I have not been in there, other than for about twenty minutes a couple of days ago, when my finger actually stuck to a piece of metal I was trying to attach. I am desperate to finish construction but I'm thwarted at the moment, but there is still time before the year's end!

I've used the time to write up another description which I intend to publish on my web site and it should satisfy those who are convinced I've lost the plot or think I'm some poor deluded soul who builds gravitywheels in the air.

Even at this late stage I have made further progress in deciphering Bessler's work and I doubt that anyone else knows why Bessler included the 'Die Andere Figur' and the adjacent one in 'Das Tri...'. On the face of it there is nothing useful in the drawings so why bother to include it? Yes it has a simple bit of number code but there is more, as there always is with Bessler. Happily for me, it only serves to confirm what I already know.

JC

Yin yang, Tesla and Bessler.

In 1997, I wrote about the principle of yin and yang in my biography of Johann Bessler. I argued that it had very little provenance and yet it was widely revered as a philosophy. I know this word, provenance, is usually attributed to paintings and describes records or documents authenticating them or the history of their ownership, but I was trying to describe the odd lack of explanation of its origin and development. I am fully aware of the philosophy behind this important symbol and have read a number of theses on the subject but there is absolutely nothing which explains its derivation or origins and I suggested that perhaps it derived from a design for an actual machine - many eons ago, as the SciFi books say. This is not the place to enlarge on my theory but suffice to say that all references to yin and yang include descriptions of various kinds of energy and that and the lack of provenance was the basis for my idea.

I went on to compare the yin yang design with the design of the Savonius Rotor, but subsequently I felt that there was too little substance to add to my suppositions on this matter to pursue it and I had more or less dismissed any thought of further research from my mind - other than using the device as my avatar on www.besslerwheel.com - until today. Imagine my surprise to discover a link between yin and yang, something I call Bessler's principal and a diagram by Tesla. I don't wish to reveal anything more at this stage but I cannot help but marvel at the strange circuity of events that we encounter in a more or less haphazard manner throughout our lives, which seem to have a connection, however nebulous. I don't use the word circuity in its implied sense of a roundabout way of doing something, but more in the sense of a circuitous connection between two or three apparently disparate events which seem to add up in the same way that two plus two equals four.

I don't think I'm a gullible fan of mysteries and the so-called suppressed inventions, so I try to treat gossip and rumour ,with a generous helping of salt, as unsubstantiated and prefer to work out the truth myself where possible, but I once saw a sketch which was reputed to have been drawn by Tesla which, he apparently said, showed the shape that all energy derived from. There were some similarities to the yin-yang symbol. I have been unable to locate any copies of this sketch although I have looked from time to time and its possible that I have a copy in my Bessler archives somewhere. I shall endeavour to find it and will post it here if I'm successful - or someone else locates it and sends me a copy. How reliable the information is that Tesla did really draw this sketch, I don't know, but at least it makes an interesting coincidence if nothing else - and I can confirm there does seem to be a link between the yin yang symbol and Bessler's wheel.

JC

Hostage to fortune.

My seeming confidence in my ability to successfully reconstruct Bessler's wheel may seem like I have given a hostage to fortune - and yet, despite the limited time left to achieve my goal, as far as my wager goes, I remain buoyantly unconcerned at the possibility of failure. The reason for my apparently disproportionate feeling of optimism lies, not in my current construction, but rather in the sure and certain knowledge that I know what principle lies behind Bessler's wheel and which powers it. I can say without any fear of correction that there has not been a single suggestion by any person, past or present, which explains this principle, although there have been a number allusions to it in a general way but which have missed the truth by a whisker or two. Because of this knowledge, I'm confident that I shall succeed, if not this month then next month or the one after.

Now before certain people jump on this carefully considered comment as a sign that I am getting ready to admit failure, I would like to assure them that I have not failed as I have not finished the construction. However, I have heard it said that when man hatches plan, God dispatches man, so I have taken time to record my thoughts on this matter and have taken steps to ensure that, should my end arrive prematurely, my efforts will not have been in vain and hopefully we shall see this miracle of simplicity, operating around the world . Antoine de Saint-Exupery once wrote, "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away". I cannot say that this design is perfect but it is extremely simple to understand - if only it were as easy to construct!

My insurance in case of a sudden exit from this world has taken considerable time to complete and that task has looked more attractive to me than contemplating the prospect of standing in my workshop during the weather we have been subjected to during the last two weeks. But that task is done; the sun is out; it's very cold but dry, so back to work!

JC

My new frictionless and wobble-free wheel

Recently I have managed to refrain from giving updates on my attempts to reconstruct Bessler's wheel because time keeps slipping by and my frequent estimates for completion slip away too. I was receiving a certain amount of flak, good-humoured I hope, but it made me think twice about making promises I might not be able to keep. However I have had a few emails requesting an occasional update so this is the situation at present.

The current prototype is still under construction and looks like it will be finished before the end of the year - in order to win my wager with Bill! I have built a new wheel stand for this model because the previous one looked so bad when compared with those I see posted from time to time and I anticipate posting pictures of this one, working or not. The bearing supporting the wheel has been improved with the addition of a bicycle front wheel bearing and there is very little friction to interfere with any spontaneous rotation that might occur - I wish!

I have argued repeatedly that friction should be the least of our worries because we wish to build a wheel which will do work, and therefore overcoming friction would be a breeze. But I have to admit that seeing the new backplate spinning easily and without the lateral wobble which seemed to be an intrinsic component of all my previous models, I'm now converted to relatively friction-free assemblies. The wobble I referred to had a tendency to throw my previous mechanisms into disarray, so it is all to the good that it has been eliminated. I remain confident that this design will work.

JC

Gravitywheels and bogywheels

The email address for this site uses the word bogywheel and it has been pointed out to me for the umpteenth time that this spelling is incorrect and it should be spelled bogey or bogie. Bogie wheels are used, typically under railway carriages and I think they are called wheel trucks in the USA. I was well aware of this fact and deliberately mispelled it because I intended it as an acronym for Bessler/Orffyreus GravitY Wheel, BOGY wheel for short.

This brings me to something that has bothered me for some time. I used the word 'gravitywheel' because the wheel is driven by gravity - alone. Everyone knows that I am firmly of the opinion that Bessler's wheel only required gravity to work - no other forces were necessary for its continuous rotation. This viewpoint is certainly not universally agreed with, even among those who support my contention that Bessler was genuine. To try to answer such criticism I have attemped to argue the point from time to time, for instance, via my web site at http://www.gravitywheel.com/ under the heading 'The Collins Conjecture'. My words have bounced off the skins of the vast majority with little effect and I have to admit that the arguments were probably too speculative, confusing and poorly worded and what we need is something that is simpler to understand.

I have argued that because gravity is a conservative force does not mean that it cannot be used as we desire and that wind and water flow are also conservative which we already use for energy. There is one major problem with likening gravity to the wind and flowing water; despite the fact that it can be argued that each force is conservative and therefore capable of being tapped directly for such purposes as generating electricity, both wind and water act directly on windmills and water wheels, respectively, while gravity wheels require the addition of weights. It seems to me that there must be a better way of comparing the three forces to obtain a deeper
understanding.

To compare the three forces under the same circumstances the following would have to apply. To drive a gravitywheel requires that moveable weights should act on the wheel to cause it to overbalance and turn, or alternatively, a succession of falling weights from some external source; for a windmill to be tested under the same strictures we should have to picture a test in which we released into the wind-flow a succession of objects, helium-filled balloons for example, each carrying a small weight, which were designed to hit the blades of the windmill causing it to turn. But we would need endless numbers of balloons striking the windmill on one side to keep it turning. The same test could be applied to water flow; there would have to be a succession of floating objects striking a submerged wheel in such a way that it too turned.

Under these circumstances, the wind would be driving the weights, not gravity. No one would seriously suggest that that was the way to turn a windmill and it is obvious that if you tied the balloons to the blades of the windmill that it would not turn in the wind just because of the pressure of the wind on the balloons. But that is what we are suggesting with a gravity wheel. To solve this problem We have to design a weight-driven wheel that reflects the interaction between the wind and the windmill blades.

JC

Two principles and Orffyreus or Bessler?

This has been an interesting week for me. I am still finding difficulty in allocating enough time to building Bessler's wheel according to my design. But during one of the brief moments when I managed to get to work on it I discovered that there are at least two completely different ways to achieve the same result i.e. a gravity driven wheel. My original design and the second method each use the same kind of mechanisms, but obviously configured slightly differently. The second method looks easier to build and once I've finished the first design I shall build another wheel according to the second method. This seems to back up Bessler's claim to have built wheels which worked on different principles. They are different but one leads to the other.

I have also had subjective confirmation that my design is right because of questions raised in http://www.besslerwheel.com/. In some of Bessler's more literary descriptions of his wheel the inventor makes use of metaphors to aid understanding and at the same time confuse. Two metaphorical descriptions had left me clueless as to the reason for their inclusion, but recent references to them brought them back to my mind and at last I understood them - and as I've said before, the understanding of these descriptive clues seems to come after the solution arrives which is a pain but also useful in confirming that you are going the right way. As I said this is a purely subjective experience and open to the accusation of self-delusionment!

Someone wrote to me expressing doubt that I should refer to the inventor as Bessler because he chose the pseudonym, Orffyreus. I have wavered from one view point to the other ever since I first began to write his biography , "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" I decided on using the name Bessler rather than Orffyreus almost as casually as flicking a coin to make the decision, simply because I could not make my mind up which was better. I think he would approve of my use of his real name because I have written so extensively about the reasons for the name change that no-one could be in any doubt as to whom I am referring to, which ever name I use.

He adopted the name Orffyreus for a very good reason; he wished to make people question the name and seek the reason. This, in my opinion, he did to provide a pointer to the use of alphabetic substitution and alphanumeric codes - and we all now know the reason for that. It was his intention to provide encoded information about the design of his machine for posterity.

JC

Put the horse before the cart!

Bessler the crafty old fox, almost outwitted me again and then I remembered his advice in Maschinen Tractate - don't forget to put the horse before the cart! All the indications were there that I had it right, but I couldn't for the life of me understand why the weight wanted to move in the direction it seemed to be determined to move in! Then I noticed one of Bessler's little pet mistakes - not really mistakes at all but rather clues as to how the thing should be put together. Not that I hadn't seen the error previously - I once made a long list for my own amusement of all his apparent mistakes and came to the conclusion that every single one was deliberate - but I just couldn't come up with a convincing explanation for this one before today. As is always the case with Bessler's clues, when you see it you realise how simple they are, and wonder why you didn't see it before.

So. I wasn't going to give any more commentary on how things are going with the build, but I was so pleased with this discovery, I just had to share my glee with you. Well it's back to the work shop again.

There are a set of clues that I haven't published yet but which are, in many ways, more informative than the ones I have discussed on http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/. As I suggested above, look for errors by the inventor. They turn out not to be errors at all but clues as to how the machine was constructed. The trouble is, it isn't clear what they mean until you happen on the right design and then afterwards when its too late, the meanings become clearer.

Then there is the 'Toys' page, a collection of drawings which show you various details about the mechanism. 'A' for example shows the mechanism before it has moved, notice the horizontal lever mounted in a slightly off set way.

'B' shows the same mechanism but a different part of it - after it has moved.

'C' and 'D' show two clues each, not difficult to grasp. Each mechanism has one weight up and one down, and each also has two sets of levers somewhat in the form that you see them on the page.

'E' connects those two parts of the mechanism, which is why it falls roughly between the two.

Too much already!

JC

Global Warming; both oil and time are running out.

In an address to members of the European parliament a while ago in Brussels, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales stated that "climate change presented such a threat that, uniquely in history, it will surely require the effort of every nation and every person to find and implement a solution before it is too late."

On an earlier occasion He said, "The evidence on climate change is both frightening and alarming. Doing nothing is simply not an option, it can't be any more, because of the urgency of the situation. This is not about saving the planet. Actually, it's about saving us. That is where each and every one of us has a responsibility to do what we can."

In July this year HRH said that if the world failed to heed His warnings then we all faced the "nightmare that for so many of us now looms on the horizon".

Others such as Al Gore and Gorden Brown have also commented similarly. Gordon Brown warned that there were only 50 days to save the planet from global warming - 50 days, that is, before more UN talks, Mr Brown said that countries were not making progress quickly enough to reach agreement and warned of the economic, human and ecological impact of a failure to cut the emissions.

Nearly four years ago former Vice President Al Gore said we only have 10 years left.

The consensus seems to be that not only is oil running out, but due to carbon emissions and global warming, also time.

HRH's reputation as a passionate environmentalist is unassailable, I must therefore ask why it is that a technology which has been known about for almost 300 years and through which many of his concerns can be assuaged is completely ignored, derided, and scorned. I know the answer of course and the fault lies not with HRH but with our scientists. The assumption that because gravity is a conservative force it cannot be used to drive machinery is inaccurate and can be proved wrong.

I refer to a machine once known as a perpetual motion machine, but latterly referred to as a gravity-converter. It was invented in 1712 by Johann Bessler, also known by the curious pseudonym, Orffyreus. The documentary evidence that it was genuine is compelling.

I also note with a certain amount of amusement that "in a bold move to lessen our dependence on traditional fuels and decrease carbon missions, Congress voted to repeal an old Republican ban on perpetual motion machines, clearing the way for the development of self-propelled water wheels, self-flowing flasks, float belts, zeromotors, and other environmentally-friendly industrial equipment." [courtesy of thepeoplescube.com]

How wonderful it would be if this single act were to open the flood gates of invention and lead to a kind of perpetual motion machine! But back to reality.

The implication of HRH's comments is that no stone should be left unturned in our search for a solution to global warming. If a potential source of free, clean energy can be identified then surely it behoves us to examine the claims put forth and develop such technology? To quote HRH's own words "That is where each and every one of us has a responsibility to do what we can." I have been doing "what I can" since I self-published a book about the machine in 1997. I have a number of web sites each offering additional information about the machine, but so far I have the attention of just one accredited scientist.

Surely the time is right for the resurrection of Bessler's wheel? He announced in 1712, yes that was almost 300 years ago, that he had invented a gravity-driven machine. It was examined by numerous people, amongst them, Gottfried Leibniz, and believed to be genuine. Unfortunately the inventor died without revealing the secret, and although the machine underwent twelve years of intense scrutiny it has been ignored, discarded and dismissed as a scam.

To me it seems quite extraordinary that, given the strong circumstantial evidence that the machine was genuine, no notice has been taken of it, other than by gifted amateur engineers and others around the world who also find the evidence absolutely convincing.

What use would such a device be? The obvious and most simple use would be to generate electricity for innumerable uses. How can such an invention be left unused and disregarded? Imagine how dramatically carbon emissions would be cut once the world was using it where ever possible to eliminate the need for fossil fuel and bio fuels.

It might be thought that such technology has been lost and that it is too late to start researching the possibilities in this area of what is generally referred to as pseudoscience, but actually there is reason for optimism. Bessler admitted that he would probably fail to get recognition for his achievenment during his lifetime and would in that case settle for post humous success and accordingly, left behind him a number of clues that were intended to guide a particularly perspicacious person to a successful conclusion and build a working model of the original machine. I am not suggesting that I am that perspicacious person, nevertheless even I have made some significant advances leading to a fuller understanding of the machine and why it does not conflict with the established laws of physics.

I just wish that there were more people who would study the evidence without prejudice, because I'm sure that anyone with an open mind and no preconceptions, would come to the conclusions that here was a machine that would solve many of the problems that we face in trying to reversae the effects of carbon emissions.

Are there others out there willing to take a step outside their comfort zone and examine the evidence? If so please pay a meaningful visit to my web site at http://www.free-energy.co.uk/ and the others listed on my LINKS page. Maybe you will be persuaded to seek an investigation of this machine and encourage proper funding of its development. You could contribute to the rescue of the whole planet and its inhabitant, slowing the advance of global warming more speedily than any other technology even under consideration.

JC

Back from Spain, refreshed and reinvigorated

Well I'm back! I was forced to take a week away in Spain with my children and grandchildren. Of course I was reluctant to go, imagining the warm blue seas and azure skies that were sure to greet me, not to mention beer, wine and food at roughly half the price, or less, that it is here in the UK, but I generously submitted to the entreaties of my family. There was thick fog and rain and it was cold when we took off, something I knew I was going to miss, desperately, but one has to consider the needs of others, so I bravely soldiered on. No internet where we went! How on earth was I going to manage without my daily dose of the besslerwheel forum? Well I managed!

Seriously, it was a wonderful break and strangely, not having the wheel project right under my nose, benefitted me because I was able to comtemplate everything mentally and I discovered some additional clues that had been staring me in the face but which I was too close to see. No changes are necessary but confirmation of the actual sizes of the various parts has been made possible.

I cannot believe how clever Bessler was, not just in building the wheel but in hiding all sorts of clues in full view of everyone for so long. Maybe he was too clever, otherwise the clues would have been found years ago and not almost 300 years later.

On a completely different subject, one of the odd things I have noticed is that there is much talk about the rate of exchange between the Euro and the Pound and how bad it is for British people holidaying abroad, because of the fall of the Pound against the Euro. We are encouraged, nay exhorted, to spend our holidays in here in England, because the countries of the Eurozone are now too expensive. Well that may be true of some countries, such as France or Germany, but Spain is nothing short of brilliant! Excellent food and wine at prices that make us green with envy; wonderful people; dramatic scenery; amazing historic buildings; beautiful beaches, heart-stirring music. What more could you wish for? Who cares if the Pound is almost at parity with the Euro? It's still the best place to go and still the best value.

OK travelogue over.

JC

The 20/20 vision of hindsight

It has been pointed out to me that my posts both here and on http://www.besslerwheel.com/, over the last few months, about my self-proclaimed progress in building a working Bessler-wheel, have been somewhat overly optimistic. Having read through a summary of them, kindly provided by a member of said website, I have to agree that it certainly looks that way. But I never fail to be amazed at the efforts some people will go to prove a point, in this instance, trawling through pages and pages of text to harvest choice comments made by me with little consideration at the time, to support their apparent belief that I am either a dreamer or a scam artist - or completely deluded.

In fact I'm none of these as will be shown in due course. But I am embarrassed at how almost effusively I have predicted success within a short time and how cruelly the truth emerges that I am not quite there yet. It is easy to point the finger of scorn at predictions, using the 20/20 vision of hindsight, but how many would put their reputations on the line by predicting success, no matter how convinced they might be, in an area so thoroughly derided, even within a community of like-minded individuals such as we perpetual motionists? Only someone having complete conviction as I do, that time will prove them right. Optimism reigns strongly here because, as has been the case for several years, I find that each failure teaches me something new and is a step forward towards success.

I have good reason to be optimistic about solving this puzzle but I cannot share it yet. All I can say is that I have solved a large number of clues both textual and graphic and when added to my knowledge of the principle behind the wheel, leads me to believe with absolute certainty that I will succeed in replicating Bessler's wheel. I have a detailed drawing which shows every part of the mechanism and even some areas which had, only weeks ago, remained slightly hazy have become clear. I am building it according to my drawing. As I have said before, if I cannot build it then I shall have to get someone else to do it for me. Either way publication of the details will follow.

This does not rule out the possibility of someone else succeeding before me and it might be that they get there by a different route, but I can say with sure and certain knowledge that mine is derived wholly from Bessler's wheel. Once it is built I shall be able to say that I could not have succeeded if I had not had his clues to help me. Even though I might have tried for a lifetime, without the clues I don't think I would ever have succeeded. But some other researcher might arrive at the same objective because they have better skills, both intellectual and dexterous, and in that case they would be far cleverer than I who simply followed a trail of clues to the treasure.

JC

Brief delay; amazing health & defence statistics

Apologies to those who are waiting for the results of my Bessler wheel project but I have not finished it yet. Time is against me again and I am struggling to set aside a few minutes on any day for my wheelwork, so I must ask for my reader's indulgence and patience. I have 'til the end of the forthcoming week to find the odd moment to work on it, then other commitments mean that I shall be unable to spare any time at all for a further week. After that I am determined to finish this wheel and publish a video of it working - or disclose the design and concept behind it -come what may.

On a completely different subject, I came across these amazing statistics the other day and I thought I'd share them with you.

In 2009 England has become a country of healthcare workers, with one in every twenty-three of the working population being employed by the NHS (National Health Service). Almost 1.3 million people work for the NHS, which is the largest employer in Europe and world’s third biggest employer. That is 2 per cent of the 30 million people of working age.

According to the latest workforce census, the NHS employs 386,400 nurses,109,000 doctors and 122,100 scientists and other therapists.

Incredibly for this small nation, only the Chinese Army and the Indian State Railways are believed to employ more people — with 2.3 million and 1.5 million staff respectively — but both workforces represent a far smaller proportion of the national populations.

One more thing; as if we here in the UK, were not spending enough tax already, in another article I found this remarkable comment - "the UK defence budget is currently the 2nd largest in the world, after the US!" I think we are punching way above our weight - But isn't it splendid!

JC

Final few days and the Virgin Challenge

After assembling and correcting various items on the reconstruction I am at last approaching completion. I just hope that my engineering skills, puny as they are, have accomplished the required quality of build which will allow the various bits to react as planned. My main fear is that if one or more of the mechanisms fails to operate, it will bring the wheel to a halt, or worse, stop the wheel from turning at all. I understand the basic principle behind the wheel's actions and the design fulfills the principle, but there are still one or two variables which may or may not affect the running of the wheel.

If this model fails it won't be because the design is wrong, it will be entirely due to my poor workmanship. This is going to be a hard thing to prove and if I can't build it myself then I am going to have to find someone to help me. I have already had several offers but I am going to await the results of the first test run which should happen in the next two or three days or so, before deciding on the best course of action.

What action that might be is open to question. I am still being urged to forward details of how the wheel works to an American professor who has been encouraging me for some years. I am willing to go that route provided there is some assurance that I won't be side-stepped and my ideas buried. I had thought of trying to get the Virgin Challenge interested but apparently they are after something far more exotic, i.e. "Does your technology sequester greenhouse gases from the atmosphere?"

It seems to me that they are reaching for something that will be beyond the power of human intervention for many years to come - on the other hand a device which generates electricity at no cost and completely cleanly is something to be greatly desired. I realize, of course why they will ignore me - until I produce the goods, gravitywheels fly in the face of science as we understand it - or so they believe.

JC

Construction, composition and update

This is a brief update, because I have so many things going on at the moment.

I have been unable to do much work on my reconstruction recently, although things are looking more promising next week. Hopefully I can get some way towards finishing it. I have had numerous emails asking for clues about the principle behind my wheel and I have not revealed anything yet, however some people may be interested in having some of the details about the construction itself, now that it is nearing completion.

It is built with 40 moving parts, plus several swivel posts and stops all mounted on an MDF backplate or disk, which is only two feet in diameter. The axle is a threaded rod, held in place by two heavy nuts and washers and the whole thing rests in two plastic cup-shaped bearings which were originally designed to hold central-heating pipes to the walls. There is a little friction but not enough to stop the wheel turnng easily, and anyway the wheel is designed to do work so a little friction should not be a problem for the proof-of-principle demo. I've used two kinds of material for the parts, mostly mild steel but some GRP.

I acquired an old set of meccano parts but I have found that they are proving awkward to accomodate in the design, partly because this model is so small (my fault!) and partly because they are old, bent and buckled, (sounds like me) and the fiddly nuts and bolts are too small for my large and arthritic fingers! I am using alternatives that seem to be ok.

40 moving parts may seem like a lot but when you consider the number of parts composing a number of mechanisms and weights it's not so much. The basic principle which, I believe, lies behind the successful operation of the wheel is simple but it is something I have never heard or seen described. The only clue about its operation which I can give is to quote Bessler himself who said something along the lines of, 'I found it where everyone else had looked'.

I have a deadline of three weeks for completion.

JC

Bessler's wheel the solution to global warming?

It might be thought that I am only concerned with building a copy of Bessler's wheel and not with what might happen with it afterwards. Nothing could be further from the truth. I see this device as offering the best solution to global warming and saving the planet. How might this be done?

I was reading an article about maritime emissions - it seems that the world's shipping is emitting double the amount of CO2 the aviation industry emits and yet they are not covered by the Kyoto accord, so there's no cap on how much they can emit..

Separate studies suggest that maritime carbon dioxide emissions are not only higher than previously thought, but could rise by as much as 75% in the next 15 to 20 years if world trade continues to grow and no action is taken. The figures from the oil giant BP, which owns 50 tankers, and researchers at the Institute for Physics and Atmosphere in Wessling, Germany reveal that annual emissions from shipping range between 600 and 800m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or up to 5% of the global total. This is nearly double Britain's total emissions (we are the 7th worst polluter in the world) and more than all African countries combined. And yet we are warned about the effects of such carbon emissions from aircraft and the virtues of carbon credits are extolled. How come shipping has escaped censure?

It has always seemed to me to be a remote possibility that Besslers wheel might somehow be encapsulated within an automobile to provide free, clean transportation - it is much more likely to be used to charge the batteries of an all electric car. But a complete impossibility, I think, to place such a device in an aircraft, but what about ships?

These enormous container ships and of course the mighty supertankers, have huge amounts of space within their hulls to place giant besslerwheels. Could they be engineered to provide sufficient power to drive these leviathans of the deep?

Motor vehicles are one of the biggest source of atmospheric pollution, contributing an estimated 14% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, a proportion that is steadily rising, but electricity generation is responsible for 40 percent of all CO2 emissions.

So, we could, in theory, cut almost 60% of global CO2 emissions by simply using Bessler's wheel to drive ships and charge up electric autos and to generate domestic electricity. A pipe dream? Maybe, maybe not.

Bessler's wheel is real; it does not conflict with the laws of physics; it will be a major contribution to saving the planet from the excesses of global warming.

I am continuing to work at the reconstruction and I hope to have it finished soon. Recent calls on my time have prevented me from finishing the prototype but it should be ready soon - I hesitate to predict a finishing date since things have a habit of spoiling one's plans but I do recall placing a bet that it would be ready before 2009 is out. It should be much sooner than that, but in any case I know there are others in this race who are as confident as I, so all being well, one or more of us will cross the finishing line in the very near future so we shall have Bessler's wheel within weeks.

JC

Proof of principle device almost finished

It has been suggested that as I am nearing completion of the reconstruction of Bessler's wheel that I should write something every day, detailing my progress, however I think I would bore my readers to death with the minutiae of my daily construction efforts. Having said that perhaps it might help some of you to understand why it is taking so long to finish what seems, on the face of it, a relatively simple thing to complete, if I describe my latest problems which have led to this delay.

I have made a new set of mechanisms in new material and when moved by hand they perform as designed, but it's still difficult to get the actions perfect and I have to keep altering the way things are arranged, not because the design doesn't work, but to get the various pieces to work together without either missing each other entirely, or getting entangled and locking together. It is surprisingly difficult to transfer a design which is both in one's mind and on paper into a practical reality. Everything works as it should do when moved by hand, but then you find that under its own steam, so-to-speak, or rather gravity, the levers are either too close and bump into each other, or too far apart so that an engagement designed to occur, misses! There is some flexibility in the levers giving rise to too much lateral movement. But if I tighten them down to limit the lateral motion, they become stiff and don't move easily. I may have to add some kind of lateral bracing to support them unless I can produce a proof of principle (POP) wheel without further delay.

I have found that by altering the order of the pieces I have eventually achieved the best arrangement. The order can be changed throughout the depth of the mechanism, by that I mean, not the plan view, but the sideways elevation. It doesn't alter the way the mechanism works but it does improve and free-up the action.

I had fitted five mechanisms to the backplate but as they were unable to move properly and freely, due to entanglement, I have rearranged them and three are now fitted and working as designed. The remaining two will be done as soon as I can get into the workshop again. On some days I only get ten or fifteen minutes in my workshop and sometimes none at all.

I am doing this on a shoestring, as I always have done, just to make a POP machine, but I have seen estimates of money spent on prototypes, posted on various forums, and I am surprised at how much people spend, because I have spent no more than about £100 (about $160) in the last ten or maybe even fifteen years of modelmaking! I have to admit that some of the models shown are amazingly well engineered, rugged-looking and most impressive, but I suspect I could have built half a dozen rough and ready models in the time it takes to build just one high quality one. In the end we only require a working model to prove the principle, however roughly constructed. Once that has been achieved then a high quality product based on the original design can be built.

And another thing; people often describe the high quality bearings they use to reduce friction but I worry little about friction, as long as there is enough energy to turn the wheel continuously against any friction that is all that is needed. My axle is a threaded rod and it rests in a couple of plastic copper plumbing pipe wall supports screwed to two upright pieces of wood. Cost was less than a pound for a pack of five.

JC

A hiccup, but I'm back on track

I have just realised it has been over a week since my last post, but the reason for the lack of communication is down to my problems with over-used, cannibalised material in my prototype. No progress means I had nothing to report.

It was held up for a while because I have been using parts from previous constructions and the result was a mess with some parts catching on others and locking the whole structure. But not only do I now have a new back plate but I bit the bullet and bought new material for the various parts.

The mechanism looks simpler now without the fabricted joins, bent and restraightened levers and the numerous drilled holes from previous incarnations of Bessler's wheel, and I aim to finish it as soon as possible.

In my opinion, knowing why it works, I think that Karl might not have fully understood the concept behind it and his comment about it being simple was the result of not having had it fully explained to him. I can imagine Bessler keeping his explanation brief in order to allow the misapprehension of the concept thus avoiding an explanation of the finer points of the device. The design is more sophisticated than might be apparent to an observer and an assumption made about its method of converting the force of gravity to rotary motion, innaccurate. Having said that, it is not a complicated idea and once explained, easily understood.

I hope to have it finished within a week. Then what? That is the multi-million dollar question. I have some ideas but nothing is set in stone.

JC