The answer lies in Gravity, a source of energy that's free.

Bessler stated that the weights are "themselves the PM device, the essential constituent parts which must of necessity continue to exercise their motive force (derived from the PM principle) indefinitely – so long as they keep away from the centre of gravity".

I don't see how anyone can deny the obvious truth here, that the machine required only the presence of gravity to operate continuously. I have spent many years researching the facts about gravity and I remain utterly convinced that, despite the strongest remonstrations from scientists, teachers and other experts, not forgetting most Bessler fans, there is no reason for thinking otherwise.  I have read all the arguments,and I understand the reasoning and I still disagree with their findings in this regard.  There is a way to use gravity alone - no other force being required - and I know what it is.

It seems strange that gravity is dismissed in this way.  Historically mankind has instinctively known that gravity could provide the answer and yet science has outlawed it as a potential energy enabler.  I have offered numerous analogies to explain why it is a possible and they have been disregarded.  No-one seems to get it, that an analogy is an alternative way of explaining something which is not clear. You don't actually apply a microscopic analysis to an analogy, you just get the general picture. Professor Eric Laithwaite, who I once had the honour to meet, suggested that analogies were the the best form of explanation.  He  loved to use the art of analogy to explain awkward scientific concepts.

A simple example of an analogy is to liken the heart to a pump, or plumbing to electricity - every one understands that when we say electricity running through wires is like water running through pipes, it is an analogy and not to be taken literally.  So when I say that gravity is like a current of water or wind, carrying everything along with it that isn't fixed, there is no point in directing my attention to the fact that wind is generated by pressure changes in the atmosphere, or that flowing water originated from the sun's action causing evaporation, condensation, rain etc.  These things are irrelevant to the analogy.   

As many will know, I have been claiming for a long time that I know the secret of Bessler's wheel and I will share the information as soon as I have tested it out on a prototype  - before the 6th June this year.  I will publish the details, even if I can't make it work for me, because I know without a doubt that I have the secret and if I can't prove it with a working model, then perhaps my efforts will result in someone else succeeding and that people will recognise my original input. But even more I hope my prototype works.  The design of the mechanism is drawn from Bessler's text and images.  In my forthcoming publications, website and video, I will explain everything, where the clues came from and what they mean and why I am so certain that I'm right.

I do not know what will happen when I publish the details but I am content to await the outcome, whatever it may be, after thee hundred years it's time.

JC     

I wouldn't patent Besslers wheel if I had the chance.

There are many who will strongly disagree but.....

I've discussed the issue of patenting Bessler's wheel before, both here on my blog as well as on the besslerwheel forum, but since the question has arisen again I have decided to restate my own view.

I know and agree with all the arguments for patenting the device, but there is one overwhelming reason why it shouldn't be patented.  Any government that sees this device as harming tax revenues from the sale of oil will be tempted to bury it under a secrecy order.  Have no doubt, it will affect them in time and maybe sooner.  

It will also have an impact on all the alterntive energies being so expensively researched.  The solar panels so assiduously promoted even in our own fog-bound island will suffer a sudden decline in sales, possibly throwing people out of work and closing firms down.  Plenty of temptation and plenty of excuses for a government to kill it quickly.

And don't even apply for a patent even if you intend sharing it freely afterwards, because a patent application can lead to a subsequent secrecy order.

OK, so what do we do?  As others have advised, share it freely across the world by internet, video and other public media.

How to get remuneration?  The media will come knocking at your door offering wads of cash for your story - take it or leave it, the choice will be yours and even if you do take it, it will still be a seven day wonder and then they'll forget you.

Don't patent, the risk it too great that it will be taken and buried.

JC

Farm Studio's Italian documentary about 'Orffyreus' on youtube gets almost as many hits in one week as my seven websites get in a month!

I was pleased to be contacted by one of the three other people interviewed on the Italian documentary about Orffyreus.  I look forward to some exchanges of views, and my recent experience in Rome has shown me  what friendly, open-minded people the Italians are.  In fact I have seen a distinct swing towards Italians buying copies of my books since the documentary aired on RAI 2 on Monday 12th March, and it certainly shows that the film has attracted more attention in one week than all my years of publishing information about Johann Bessler (Orffyreus) on a number of web sites, radio interviews and magazine articles.

Some years ago a radio interviewer described my efforts as like 'a voice crying in the wilderness', and went on to compare my attempts to persuade the world that Bessler was genuine, to Galileo, because when he stated that the sun was the centre of the solar system, he too, was a voice crying in the wilderness. Most people thought he was crazy or evil, or possibly both. I hasten to add that I am not to be compared in any way with Galileo nor the original subject of the quote - and I don't think I'm crazy or evil.....I admit I have sometimes felt as though I was banging my head against a wall but I never considered giving up.  

But it does go to show the advantages of putting the subject out on TV, the potential audience is vast and if they decide to produce the same film with English and other language subtitles the whole world will come to learn about Bessler and his gravity wheel.  In my opinion the more who know about Bessler, the better the chances are that someone will succeed in reproducing Bessler's wheel and everyone will benefit.

JC

Sir Isaac Newton misrepresented by the false Frank Edwards attribution.

A lot of people have repeated what they believe to be a famous Newton quote, "Sir Isac Newton once observed that the seekers after perpetual motion are trying to get something from nothing."  Now I have always been suspicious of the authenticity of this attribution for three reasons, firstly, it doesn't fit with Newton's early notes about the potential for a gravity-enabled perpetual motion machine, see my blog on Monday, 12 March 2012.  I spent a lifetime researching documents relating to Bessler and in particular, anything connected with professor Gravesande's letter to Newton on the subject of Bessler's wheel.  In all the years I looked I found just one reference to perpetual motion as a potential machine and I have commented on that in the above blog.  There is absolutely no documentary evidence that Newton said anything else about the subject either in writing or as a reported conversation.

Secondly the language is completely un-Newtonesqe.  By that I mean the language phrasing and style is entirely unlike anthing that Newton is quoted as saying elsewhere.  Here are some well-known examples of his words:-

"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

"If I have seen further than certain other men it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

"I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light."

"If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent."

There are dozens of websites providing examples of Newtons words, and these prove the point.

Thirdly, the first time I came across the quote was in Frank Edward's book, "Strangest of All", in which he recounts the legend of Bessler's wheel, with one or two additional inventions of his own.  Because recently this quote has resurfaced I decided once and for all to either verify it as genuine or prove that it is nothing more than a piece of artistic license - Artistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of art. [thanks to wikipedia]. 

We already know that Frank Edwards invented the story about Karl seeing pegs in Bessler's wheel and rushing away to write down a description of what he saw, so it is perfectly reasonable to attribute the quote he ascribes to Newton as in fact another of his own creations.

In order to check out my theory I have searched through many, many web sites looking for every Newton quote available, and there is nothing remotely similar to the one being discussed.  I have also sought other sources for the quote but everyone is almost word for word the same as the one in Frank Edward's book and none of the ones I have seen pre-date Edward's - in most cases the quotation is prefixed with the words, 'Sir Isaac Newton once observed....' a perfect match to Edward's words -  or 'Newton is reputed to have said...'

There is no such quotation mentioned in the earlier book on Bessler, R.T.Gould's book, 'Oddities', yet this compendium of legends is replicated in its entirety in Frank Edward's version, and obviously formed the basis for his book.

It seems that before there was Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and George Noory, there was Frank Edwards of the Mutual Network, with one of the earliest late night national radio talk shows exploring mysterious topics. He called his program, "Stranger than Science," and covered everything from Bigfoot to UFOs. If the story lacked impact then I guess a little poetic license could  spice it up.

I was fascinated to discover how widespread this quotation has become, thanks largely to the internet.  Even the arch-critic of perpetual motionists, Donald Simanek, [see http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/home.htm] uses it.  

If you put the whole sentence, "Sir Isaac Newton once observed that the seekers after perpetual motion are trying to get something from nothing." in inverted commas into google you get nothing, if you remove the words (or the quote marks) Sir Isaac Newton once observed that, you get about 217 pages, but if you put Sir Isaac Newton's quotes you get 223,000 pages!  The 217 are merely copies which originated in Frank Edwards book.

It may be that Edward's was confusing Leonardo da Vinci's comment, "Oh, ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists!", but it is not the same thing at all and hardly of equal literary value.

JC

Sir Isaac Newton's Perpetual Motion machine.

This is in the interests of trying to correct misleading information relating to Bessler/Orffyreus

Since posting information about Floriano's website at www.orffyreus.it, I've received a number of emails questioning the sketch which, according to him, was done by professor Willem 's Gravesande, and sent to Sir Isaac Newton.  This sketch was actually drawn by Sir Isaac himself. about 24 years before Gravesande was born!  In my first book about Bessler (Perpetual Motion, An Ancient Mystery Solved?) I included the drawing, shown below, because it indicated that Newton considered that a perpetual motion machine could be possible when interacting with gravity.

I wrote that, 'It is a little known fact that in his early notebooks under the heading "Quaestiones"[sic] Newton speculates that gravity (heaviness) is caused by the descent of a subtle matter which strikes all bodies and carries them down. "Whither ye rays of gravity may bee stopped by reflecting or refracting ye, if so a perpetual motion may bee made one of these two ways." Adjacent to these words, Newton added two sketches of perpetual motion powered by the "flux of the gravitational stream".

In full he wrote,

"Try whither the weight of a body may be altered by heate or cold, by dilatation or condensition, beating , poudering, transfering to severall places or severall heights or placing a hot or heavy body over it or under it or by magnetisme whither leade or its dust spread abroade, whither a plate flat ways or edg ways in heaviest, whither the rays of gravity may bee stopped by refecting or refracting them, if so a perpetuall motion may bee made one of these two ways.

The gravity of bodys is as their solidity, because all body{s} descend equall spaces in equal {times} consideration being had to the Resistance of the aire &c"

Now people may well have come to the conclusion that such machines are impossible but it seemed to me then and I remain convinced of it,  that if Newton himself considered it possible and actually drew his  ideas on paper why should subsequent thinkers dismiss it?

In the lower half of the above drawing, Newton also shows his thoughts on using magnets too.

 "Atraction Magneticall

1 The motion of any magneticall ray may bee knowne by attracting a needle in a corke on water.

2 Whither a magneticall pendulum is perpendicular to the Horizon or not, & whither iron is heaviest when impregnated, or when the north pole or southpole is upmost. Coroll. A perpetuall motion .

3 Whither magneticall rays will blow a candle move a red hot copper or iron needle, or passe through a red hot plate of copper or iron

4 A perpetuall motion .

5 Whither a loadestone will not turne around a red hot iron fashioned like wind mill sailes as the wind doth them. Perhaps cold iron may reflect the magn: rays with that pole which shuns the lodestone."

He never published an opinion later on whether he believed such devices were possible or not.

For the modern rendering of Newton's Quaestions" notebook see  http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00092

JC

More Orffyrean related websites

I often get sent ideas and details of other websites which might be of interest to me and recently I received two more.

This email came from a long time correspondent in Italy, who incidentally gave my name to the Italian documentary makers, so thanks for that Floriano, and he has just published a website with his own take on Bessler's wheel.  In it he says that he has decided not to go for a long explanation but preferred to keep it simple to gain and keep people's attention.  This seems to me to a good idea, as I am currently writing an explanation of how I believe Bessler's wheel worked and had intended to publish it either on the occasion of the 300th year since Bessler's first exhibition, or when and if someone else published definitive proof that their wheel works.

I now think I might publish a shorter version at the same time.

Floriano has a web site at www.orffyreus.it and it has some interesting ideas, none of which I must hastily admit, bear any resemblance to mine.  Take a look and see what you think.

On the subject of other websites with an Orffyrean connection, there is also one at www.oldrichnos.com which contains some of the most beautiful drawings on it, other than yours John Worton!  The website has been around a while but is till worth a look and is often added to.

JC

If not gravity-driven then what else drove Bessler's wheel?

I'm continually surprised that Bessler's wheel is still regarded as a fraud.  52 years ago (approximately) I read the maid's account of how she supposedly turned the wheel and I immediately knew it was wrong.  How could a piece of mechanism turn the twelve foot wheel through the bearings?  How could it reach a top speed 26 RPM in just three turns?  How was such a mechanisms hidden in open bearings? How was it hidden during the change over from one set of bearings to another? If it was a fraud and the maid was simply mistaken or fooled into thinking that was how it was done , how else could it have been done?

Which leads us to pondering what force was accessable internally which could be used to turn the wheel?  I have seen the suggestions of ambient temperature changes and I dismiss it with the same gut feeling I originally had when reading about the maid's version of events. Later consideration only added weight to my original conviction that it would not do. I am convinced, satisfied and know that it could only have been gravity supplying the weights with the necessary force and therefore energy.

Instead of shooting us gravity-driven wheel proponents down, I wish the shooters would offer alternative theories which were at leastt as acceptable as the gravity-only ones.  We need theories which offer the same quick response, allowing speedy acceleration of the wheel.  My personal belief is that there isn't one, but if people wish to dismiss gravity-driven wheels and yet find no fault in my argument that the wheel was not fraudulent, then they must offer some kind of suggestion of what force would suffice.  It's no good saying that the wheel was genuine but gravity cannot be used in this way but they can't think of anything else.

It's as clear as daylight to me that gravity provided the energy source, Bessler said so too, and there is no alternative anyway.

JC

Don't assume everything on the internet is correct - it ain't!

The internet is a wonderful source of information but the problem with it is that incorrect information can be spread as easily as the correct stuff.  My work on writing the new book on Bessler is proceeding well and I have tried to ensure that all the information in it is correct, however in the course of double-checking everything some inaccuracies are inevitably found.

In my first version of Bessler's biography I wrote during my research, I had come across no less than three accounts written over a period of some fifty years or more, which all use the same argument in support of their author's contention that Orffyreus was a fraud. They explain away Professor 'sGravesande's belief in the wheel in the following manner. I will quote from the latest account which uses very similar words to the two previous ones. Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume's book is called "Perpetual Motion - The History of an Obsession". After describing the examination of the wheel at Kassel by 'sGravesande, the author remarks;

'The Professor certainly seems to have had some measure of faith in the wheel and the demonstration of its ability to turn without apparent external force. We ought not to forget, though, that it may have proved easy to dupe an honest old man whose confidence in humanity was probably unbounded . . . .It is not recorded whether the aging academician ever received a reply to his letter to Sir Isaac Newton.'

As this argument attempted to cast doubt on the professor's competence to decide whether the machine was valid or not, it was important to check his age. If he was elderly, then his capacity as a valuable witness was potentially impaired. In fact, this 'honest old man', this 'aging academician' was born on the 26th September 1688, which means that at the time of the Kassel examination he had reached the grand old age of thirty-three! He lived for over another twenty years, dying in 1742. In 1730 he was described as one of the great luminaries of scientific experimentation at Leiden University, possibly the foremost University of the age. His lectures drew the biggest crowds of students. This does not sound like a man of failing intellectual powers, and he was certainly one who could form an opinion based on the evidence in front of him, which others could rely on as accurate. He would not have upset Orffyreus so much if he had not had the courage to ask the most searching questions concerning the Kassel wheel. The argument that he was old and gullible is invalidated.

It has also been pointed out that I did not include anything about Frank Edwards, "Bessler's Wonderful Wheel", 1956, in which he gives an account of Bessler's wheel.  I omitted it because it contains information which is just plain wrong.  One could kindly call it Poetic Licence, but it is misleading.  According to Edwards,  "When the oiled cloth was stripped away, said Count Karl, he found himself gazing upon a very simple arrangement of weights and levers. Orffyreus explained that he had conceived a system whereby the weights one side of the wheel were farther from the axle than the weights on the other side of the wheel, creating an imbalance which caused the wheel to move. The secret, if there was a secret, lay in the ingenious manner in which the weights on the ascending side of the wheel were prevented from following their normal path next to the rim. Count Karl said that these weights were blocked by small pegs which swung back out of the way as the weight passed the zenith."  There is no documentary evidence to support this account and anyway it does not fit with Karl's recorded actions - it is wrong and that is why I originally left it out, however  have included it in the new book if only to correct the information being published.  Edwards includes a numerous other mistakes such as Christian Wagner being called Claus Wagner for example

But there are still factual errors being posted on the interner and copied and pasted on other websites.  For example in the Gera certificate one of the signees is called Christian Lange and on one website it states that he was Bessler's cousin.  This is not true, Bessler's cousin was Detter Langer, but obviously this was due to a simple misreading of the text, but it has been copied to two other web sites to my certain knowledge. In addition this same website has stated that another signee, Johann Georg Pertsch is described as a professor at University of Helmstedt, however he didn't graduate until 1716 and was only 18 in 1712.  The correct man was his father of the same name and was never a professor and he did not attend University of Helmstedt.  An easy mistake to make but it could lead to confusion.

There are numerous errors on the internet and I have tried to right those relating to Bessler and I hope that when my new book does finally appear it will be error free.  But these little mischiefs do creep in and along with typos and spelling mistakes, are the author's bête noire.

My granddaughter wants me to include this clever little trinket, 

"Don't let 'assume' make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'".

JC

Would My Book Make A Good Movie?

Another emailer asking me if I am doing anything about getting the book made into a movie, following the Italian docuemntary.  Because I think the story of Bessler would make a good movie, I did some research and this is what I found.

It seems that about half the movies made in Hollywood are adaptations of stories that originally appeared as novels, nonfiction books, comic books, short stories, plays, poems, or what have you. Hollywood studios and production companies aggressively scan major magazines and the lists of New York publishers looking for books and stories that would make good feature films or television shows. If Random House or Harper Collins or some other “major” house published your book, chances are that a professional “reader” has already read your book and written a short memo (called “coverage”) assessing its movie potential. 

If your book was self-published, or published by a smaller press or University press, it’s less likely that a Hollywood “reader” has assessed its movie potential. Hollywood is usually interested in making “big,” popular, commercial movies with wide appeal, so they scan publishers’ lists looking for big, popular commercial books. If your book received unfavorable coverage, or if it was published by an obscure press, then it is unlikely that merely submitting your book to Hollywood studios or talent agents will interest them in its movie potential. Someone (usually you or a producer) will have to show them the movie hidden within the pages of your book, if it’s there.

Given the above state of things I sought information on these professional "readers" and I found that they are difficult if not impossible to contact.  It's easier if you have a contact in the movie business but even then they may not see the story as a movie in the way you can.  Still the best way is the get a literary agen to sell it to a publisher and then let him approach Hollywood.

Ah well, back to the computer and the manuscript.

JC

The Italian Documentary "Moto Perpetuo" is finished and I've seen it.

I have just watched the Orffyreus documentary by FarmStudio Factory and I have to say ...it's brilliant!  They have used virtually all the information from my book, "Perpetual Motion;An Ancient Mystery Solved?" and they have made good use of some ingenious graphics and animations.  It has included some shots of me talking but fortunately they have added a voice-over in Italian so you don't hear me umming and erring!  It is shot in a subtle golden glow which gives it an olden-day nostalgic atmosphere, but there are also some moody shadowy scenes too.  I love the Italian commentary - its poetry! Pity I don't speak it, although I was able to follow it in a vague way.

There are three 'experts' interviewed but I have no idea what they were saying or even if they were in agreement with my own views but it doesn't matter as long as more people become aware of Bessler and his work.

I have suggested that they make a version with English subtitles or possibly with an English voice-over but I think they'll do what they want and probably take no notice of me.  I have a copy of the documentary for my own use but I have signed a document agreeing not to share it with anyone, and I dare not violate our agreement. Even if I did share it, it's in Italian so unless anyone understand it they won't know what's happening.

I'll post something when I know when it's going to be aired.

JC

Spring Inspiration!

I've been asked this question many times - did Bessler use springs in his machine?  My answer has always been the same, in my opinion ...no.  He responds angrily and at length to Wagner's frequent suggestions,that springs were used.  Bessler maintains in no uncertain terms that springs were not used in his machine.  He states in Das Tri.... that "its motion depends neither on an external force or assistance, nor, especially, on any internal clockwork device of wheels and springs."

Consider Bessler's point of view; that particular suggestion coming from Wagner implies that some parts were wound up or clockwork. There is no other use for them that would fit in with what was, after all, a discreet accusation that Bessler was guilty of some fault, offence, or crime.  In my opinion any research involving springs to wind up something in Bessler's wheel is a waste of time, in which case Bessler didn't use springs and he wasn't lying.

Having said that, the use of springs for other purposes is most definitely not ruled out.  I have used them myself to dampen lateral sway in some very long levers I designed for use at one time. They may also be used to lessen the effect of impact in a falling weight or reduce the sound of its fall.  Some have suggested using springs to delay a reaction caused by a falling weight and this may be true although I have not used it in that way.  There are several different designs of springs that Bessler could have made use of.

Springs have been used in locks and padlocks since Roman and Viking times and probably earlier....it is no exaggeration to say that iron or steel springs are vital features of the lock’s technological development. Parts of the mechanisms just don’t work without springs. 

So, a lock spring creates tension – which is usually what the key must displace in order to turn the bolt. Thus, springs store power to perform a task either now or later: pushing forward, holding back or softening a force. Springs have done this kind of work for nearly 2,000 years. 

1. Simple plate spring. About 200 AD until the 17th century.

2. Ward springs. About 100 BC until the 19th century.

3. V-shaped plate springs. About 15th to 17th century.

4. Tumbler with plate spring. About 15th century.

5. Torque springs. About 17th century.

6. Compression springs. About 18th century.

7. Tension springs. About 19th century.

[Thanks again to wikipedia for the above information]

Bessler shows padlocks very clearly in some of his drawings.  They required the presence of certain types of springs which were also used in both organs and guns too!  So Bessler would have been very familiar with their various forms and uses. I thought these shapes might provide inspiration?

JC

"Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?" by John Collins, but not solved by him - yet!

I have received two emails since Christmas berating me for using an ambiguous title for my biography of Johann Bessler.  It seems that I may have given the impression that the book was about my own discovery of the secret of perpetual motion.  Apparently it was thought that the book contained a description of how to build such a machine!  I published this book in 1997, and I must admit that there have been previous such emails over the last few years - maybe one or two a year - and I wonder if this means that others too, have also misread my intention in entitling the book thus, but have refrained from comment.

It was my intention to provide a brief description of the book's content in the title, and in a longer description it would have read as "Did Johann Bessler discover the long-sought-after secret of perpetual motion?".  To me, the inclusion of the question mark at the end of the title showed beyond doubt that I was simply asking the question, had perpetual motion, an ancient mystery, ever been solved? I explained this to the email critics but I don't think they accepted it.  They seemed to think it was some kind of scam designed purely to sell the book on the understanding that the secret lay within the book, so I thought I'd try to clear up any misconceptions.  There is nothing in the book concerning my own work on trying to solve this puzzle, it is a biography about Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus. 

So on to the second reason for this post.  technoguy commented that 'the only problem I had about the book was the end where you go into a gravity "wind" theory of how the wheels worked.'  The truth is the book originally finished before the final chapter but the publisher I did have lined up had requested two things of me; one to reduce the size of the book to 90,000 words - its current length and half its original; and secondly to add a chapter about how it might have worked and what it would mean to people of our time.  It was bound to be highly speculative and if I had my time again I wouldn't have added the last chapter.  Back then I had less idea about how it might be explained.

And finally, an anonymous poster asked what the title of the new book would be?  I had thought something on the lines of "The legened of Bessler's wheel and the Orffyreus Code", but I'm open to suggestions and should the the MS be successfully published and my suggestion of a title be accepted - and it is one that one of you has suggested to me, then due acknowledgement will be included in the acknowledgement section of the book. If there are some acceptable suggestions I'll post them somewhere on the first page of this blog with the author's name attached

JC

Orffyreus' use of Hebrew letters

I was leafing through Bessler's "Der rechtgläubige Orffyreer", http://books.google.co.uk/books and noticed that page 13 has some curious hand-drawn black markings on it which I recognised as, possibly, items from the Hebrew alphabet, which Bessler mentioned in his Apologia Poetica, he learned during his stay in Prague.

A glance at the picture below tells the story.  Bessler has inked in the Hebrew letters between the two parts of the decorative pattern at the head of the page. Below is a piece I copied from the page and in it I have included two examples found on the internet which clearly match what Bessler has written.  He has reproduced the Tetragrammaton, which is what the Jews call the word for their God - Yahwey.

The Tetragrammaton, from Greek  meaning a word having four letters, refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible. Different spellings of the tetragrammaton occur in Jewish magical papyri found in Egypt. One of these forms is the heptagram, These four letters are usually transliterated from Hebrew as IHVH in Latin, JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and JHVH/YHWH in English. This has been variously rendered as "Yahweh" or as "Jehovah", based on the Latin form of the term, while the Hebrew text does not clearly indicate the omitted vowels. It translates most basically as "I am that I am" or "I will be that which I now am".

The Latin pronunciation of the letter I/J as a consonant sound was, the 'y' sound of the English word 'you'. This changed in descendent languages into various stronger consonants, including at one point in French the 'j' sound of the word 'juice', and this was the sound the letter came to be used for in English. Thus the English pronunciation of the older form Jehovah has this 'j' sound, following the English pronunciation of its Latin spelling. In order to preserve the Latin and approximate Hebrew pronunciation of Jahweh, however, the English spelling was changed to Yahweh.

The septagram/heptagram is important in Western Kabbalah, where it symbolizes the sphere of Netzach, the seven planets, the seven alchemical metals, and the seven days of the week.

  [My thanks to Wikipedia for the above information.]

I assume Bessler wished to include the Jewish version of Christianity in his unified Christain religion and he did use the word JEHOVA frequently throughout this document.  This does lend credibility to Bessler's claim that he learned some Hebrew during his stay in Prague.   With reference to the above quote from Wikipeida I should also mention the presence of the heptagram in MT 137 as explained on my web site at www.theorffyreuscode.com - see the four MT 137 links there.

JC

It's my birthday - 67!

I'm 67 today!  I have decided that if I havn't made a working model of Bessler's wheel by the 6th June this year I'll give up trying to build one, and concentrate on finally writing and finishing the follow-up book to the first one which I wrote and published in 1997 - "Perpetual motion - An Ancient Mystery solved?"

I have started and restarted it several times but I kept receiving more information which I tried to include but which didn't really fit in with the lay-out of the first book.  So I am starting again and I'm just going to tell it in chronological order and try to get a published to take it on. I realise that I gave up much to soon in trying to get the first book published.

Louis L’Amour received 200 rejections before Bantam took a chance on him. He is now their best ever selling Author with 330 million sales.

"Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling." A rejection letter sent to Dr Seuss. 300 million sales and the 9th best-selling fiction Author of all time.

"You have no business being a writer and should give up." Zane Grey ignores the advice. His 90 books have now sold 250 million copies.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was rejected so many times she had to initially self publish. To date: 80 million sales.

"It is so badly written." The Author tries Doubleday instead and his little book makes an impression. The Da Vinci Code sells 80 million.

140 rejections stating "Anthologies don’t sell" until Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen sells 80 million copies.

Having sold only 800 copies on its limited first release, the Author finds a new Publisher and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho sells 75 million.

"We feel that we don’t know the central character well enough." The author does a rewrite and his protagonist becomes an icon for a generation as The Catcher In The Rye sells 65 million.

5 Publishers reject L.M. Montgomery's debut novel. L.C. Page & Company does not, and Anne of Green Gables sells 50 million.

"Nobody will want to read a book about a seagull." Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull went on to sell 44 million copies.

"Undisciplined, rambling and thoroughly amateurish writer." But Jacqueline Susann refuses to give up and her book the Valley of the Dolls sells 30 million.

Margaret Mitchell gets 38 rejections from publishers before finding one to publish her novel Gone With The Wind. Sold 30 million.

I could go on, but the lesson to be learned in publishing is never give up - and I won't!

After that date I shall publish on my web sites and here everything I have worked out regarding the way Bessler's wheel worked and why.

JC

Hypothesis first, then mechanism design

I may be misreading the situation but it seems to me that many people attempting to find a solution to Bessler's wheel are designing new ways of achieving this and they do not realise they are effectively running on the spot,  and I'm not necessarily referring to those who attend this blog but in general.

I read that simulation software is useful because one can test many variations of designs and save hundreds of workshop hours.  While I don't doubt that these variations can be tested quickly and accurately, I think my point is being missed.  I spoke of variations in the design of various parts which occur to you when you are handling the mechanisms, where as the variations being tested in the simulation program really only apply to the changes available to you such as altering the placing of weights, pivot points or dimensions of the parts - it does not mean that the variations being tested in the software will cause an entirely new design to spring to mind just by looking at their animations.

When you have the physical parts in front of you and they don't work, you can see by means of an ability we all have - common sense -  why something doesn't work.  There is no need to run dozens of variations through the simulator when your common sense shows you why it doesn't work, and why no amount of variation in the dimensions or placings of critical parts will improve the outcome.

I often write that I have found and understand the basic concept which drives the gravitywheel, but actually that is too broad a definition.  The basic concept is the actual idea that gravity can drive a wheel continuously through action upon its weights.  All of us who believe this is possible, understand that concept.  So the extra thing that I understand is more than the basic concept.  I understand how it is possible, why it does not conflict with any of the accepted laws of physics, and what the mechanism must do. The key to success for me lies in designing a mechanism that works according to my hypothesis.

So we are looking for a hypothesis initially which will fit within current laws of physics and then all we have to do is design a mechanism which will operate within those laws and fulfil the hypothesis we have thought of. 

So to return to my first point, you must create a hypothesis to explain how the wheel could work and then you can design a mechanism which works according your hypothesis.

JC

Some advice, worth repeating in my opinion - Don't simulate - fabricate!

I know I've mentioned this before here, but from time to time, both by email and through the blog, I'm urged by well-meaning people to test my designs with simulation software, and my response has always been the same; I have tried simulations and I don't get the feedback from it that I do when I build a model, so I don't use them.  For me, there is no substitute for holding the pieces of a mechanism in my hands and, when I find that it isn't working, playing around with it and making all sorts of interesting and new (to me) discoveries.  I enjoyed that experience earlier this January and made, what I think is a momentous discovery and suddenly the so-called 'connectedness principle' was laid bare before me and I understood exactly what Bessler meant.

I am fully aware that there are several people who are equally sure they too understand it, and maybe they do; perhaps we have all made the same discovery... and maybe not.  I would never have made this short leap of understanding using simulation software because I would never have thought of moving the parts in the way I did, and even if I had, I doubt that I would have bothered to go to the trouble of entering that particular variation into the program - and there wasn't just the one variation I tried, but several different ones - who is to say which, if any, I would have tried out in the simulator?  The truth is that you can test variations so much quicker on the work bench than at a computer - and you know that what you are seeing is real and not subject to some bug within the program. Other aspects of the design now find an echo in several different drawings from Bessler and some loose ends have been tied up.

If you have never tried making models to test your design, please try it.  There are many impressive models shown on the besslerwheel forum and I am envious of the skills displayed by their makers but in all honesty there is no need to spend much money to test a hypothesis.  I have often made test mechanisms out of cheap materials such as cardboard, ice-lolly sticks, string, glue, plastic plates, drinking straws, lead weights for curtains and even blutack.  If the test answers the question then you can make something you wouldn't be ashamed of displaying!

I have no idea how many models I've made and if I knew, would I have counted separately all the variations on one design I'd tried?  Bessler suggested he'd made hundreds and I'm sure he did if you include the variations he tried. I would say the same thing - hundreds.

So my advice is, don't depend on just testing the ideas out on simulation programs because you may miss a vital clue if you don't build a model.   I'm sure that the successful machine will be designed by someone who is building models and not by someone who relies on simulation software.

JC

The Italian Orffyreus documentary and the Pentalpha.

RAI, the Italian state owned public service broadcaster who commissioned the "Orffyreus" documentary, have said that FarmStudios cannot send me a DVD of the finished documentary as they don't want anyone outside of production to see it before it's aired, which is fair enough in my opinion. But it does mean that I won't be able to offer copies to anyone for the time being.  Of course should pirated copies appear at some point in the future, then there is nothing one can do about that.  I am to be given a preview in the next few days, so I'll report about it as and when I can.

My current position with the Bessler build is stationary, like the wheels I've built so far!  I've got the flu.  I have a plan mapped out for when I can get back to work and it is looking promising - how many times have I heard myself say that before?  I am still working with the same basic concept which I worked out some eighteen months ago and I'm still convinced that it is the way to go.  It answers all the questions raised and I'm confident it will work.  The mechanisms are complex in a way that would not be obvious to a spectator, such as Karl.  I can see why he described them as simple.  It's one thing to see the finished article and how it works - but quite another to work out how to get it to do what you want it to do, when you don't know the exact design or the dimensions.

In answer to my previous post about the pentagrams and the number 5s, in Bessler's works, I've come to the conclusion he was trying to point us to the alternative word for pentagram, reputedly used by the Pythagorians, which was pentalpha.  Some people think of the pentagram as three interlaced triangles, but others describe it as having five upper case interlocking letter As, and that seem to me to be the more in line with Bessler's thinking. We have seen the interest in the besslerwheel forum in the famous 'A with legs': THE primemover? thread and this supports the idea.

It is well-known that Bessler used alternating letter As throughout his "Maschinen Tractate", sometimes with a straight cross-bar and sometimes with a bent one. He did not do this for any other reason than to point to its importance. I'm sure that this simple lever design is incorporated within the mechanism, and the successful design will require it.  

JC

That ubiquitous number five again, the Freemasons, Alchemy and Hermeticism!

As we all know, one thing that Bessler's codes has thrown up is the frequent appearance of 5, 55 and 555.  I have suggested that it either points to chapter 55 of Johann Bessler's Apologia Poetica - and/or it is a hint that five mechanisms are needed in each direction for the bi-directional wheel.  But nothing is certain and I would not wish to become so dogmatic that I miss an alternative meaning.

I would be the first to admit that the evidence that there were five mechanisms is non-existent, and if I'm wrong, then one must assume that the large number of coded number 5s only points to Chapter 55 in Apologia.  If it is connected with the presence of a coded message hidden in chapter 55 of Apologia Poetica, the evidence for which is undeniable, why did he choose the number 55? Was it chance?  I think the presence of hidden pentagrams, hinting at the same number in all the drawings in other books rules out chance.  He left so many other pointers to that Chapter, within the Apologia, not forgetting the strange list of 141 bible references, that the pentagrams seem to be superfluous.
 
In support of the idea that the chapter number 55 was not the only reason for the presence of the pentagrams, remember that none of the drawings containing the pentagrams appear in Apologia Poetica but rather, in the later publication Das Triumphirende, which came out four years later in a much more professional publication.  if they were pointing to the chapter 55 in Apologia Poetica one would think there would have been included, some kind of link to that former publication, or did he think people would remember the earlier one and make the connection themselves?  Very doubtful, and probably most people would not have even heard of the Apologia, since Bessler had only just started on his journey when it was published.

So the choice to use chapter 55 was deliberate, not chance; the pentagrams while pointing to the chapter 55 are not necessarily exclusively for that purpose, and the need for five mechanisms is not proven.  We are left with the mystery of why 55 and what does it mean?

I did a little surfing on the matter. A random query into google led me to the Washington Monument and its extraordinary measurements.  Now there are a considerable amount of spurious facts attached to this structure and it is hard to distil the truth from them but this is what I believe is correct.

Several heights have been specified, in the past, but the consensus seems to be 555 and half feet and one eighth of an inch.  Let us suppose that the intended height of the Washington monument was meant to be 555.5 feet above ground - that is equal to exactly 6666 inches.  A nice round figure and far more likely to be the right number than some figure plus an 1/8 th of an inch as is suggested.  Mind you, there are reports that the aluminium capstone on top of the pillar has been struck so many times by lightning that it has lost just under half an inch in height which, if we include the important eighth of an inch, would give a height of 555.55 feet!  And that would give us 6666.6 inches!

At ground level the sides are 55.5 feet (666 inches) long.  Ok so there appears to be an obsession with the number 5 (or its inch equivalent, 6) - but why? I'm well aware of the 5's ubiquitous  associations with alchemy, hermeticism, the Kabbala and freemasonry, and in particular the frequent association of the Washington Monument with the Freemasons....but not why that particular number! Yes there are numerous references to the number in freemasonry etc, but no one has come up with any good reason as far as I can tell why the number 5 is so important to them.  The pentagram is the most obvious geometric figure associated with the number five and that seems to have been in Bessler's mind too.  It has links with the planet Venus because the path is (very) roughly pentagonal...so what?  The skull, book and jar in Bessler's portrait also have links to Venus in symbolic art....and to Mary Magdalen...and she too has links to Venus!  We're going around in circles here (sorry!) and perhaps that was intentional. But why five?  What was it that Bessler was hinting at?  If we really knew why the freemasons were so captivated by the number 5, 55 or 555 etc, maybe we could get a glimpse of what Bessler was trying to tell us.

These different features of Bessler's books - the skull, jar and book, the hidden pentagrams, the various encoded 5s - all seem to point towards some kind of arcane belief system, but what it is, I don't know.

I have searched and searched for years and there is nothing of practical use for our purposes to be found in the inclusion of the the number 5, so the 5s are hinting at something else.  But what?

If anyone has any ideas about why Bessler included the number 5s I'd be pleased to know.  I understand, technoguy, your conviction that the design incorporates a pentagram within it - and you may be right, but I don't rule out anything else.

JC

The Orffyreus Code - were others aware of it in the 18th Century?

I passed on my copy of Bessler's 'Das Triumphirende' to a fellow Bessler admirer, David, with some regret, but pleased that he also has an interest in this particular copy. Inside the frontispiece is a label which reveals that the book came from the library of Emmy Destinn, a world famous Czech opera singer (1878 - 1930). Destinn's close links with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London are shared by David, a fine violinist with the same company.

Destinn's talents were many and varied - and not only musical. She also wrote plays, novels, short stories, librettos, and poetry; painted on canvas and porcelain; and translated and composed songs. She wrote her first play at the age of 16, and by 18 had followed that with three more. She spoke five languages fluently and wrote her literary work in Czech and German. But David had the same questions as I had - how did she come to own this particular book?

It seems that at the peak of her career she bought the beautiful castle at Stráž nad Nežárkou in Southern Bohemia. Since she moved in, in 1914, Destinn furnished the castle with a great collection of art, antiques and books on all subjects, bought while touring the world. One might be tempted to think that she acquired a copy of Das Tri during her travels, but in my opinion it is more likely to have been collected by the previous owner, Baron Adolf Franz Leonhardi, a man with a keen interest in the occult who held a number of seances at the castle. He accumulated a huge library of esoteric books, many on the subject of hermeticism and alchemy as well as freemasonry.

If the book was acquired by Leonhardi then it may be that he was aware of certain traditions attached to Bessler's books. I have never accepted that I was the first and only person to discover the existence of the pentagrams and hence the other coded items included in the books. If others were aware of secrets within the books and made their own interpretations of the mysterious features of the double portraits, for instance, then they may have recorded their findings somewhere or corresponded with others to share their knowledge. In some archive, museum or private collection there may well be a record of these findings.

It's fun to speculate but I don't want to start down the slippery slope of conjecture - and without evidence there is nothing to base an opinion on. I merely pass on my thoughts for entertainment purposes!

JC

Unable open or edit blog in Internet Explorer thank google - for nothing!

I am unable to read comments in Internet Explorer (IE) because google chrome have made alterations to the blog.  I can still read them through firefox and, of course, chrome - but I don't like chrome because I can't have my norton identity-safe toobar.  I'm not used to firefox although I could do I suppose.

I have opened up another blog at  http://besslerswheel.wordpress.com/ but I'm not sure whether to abandon this one or stay.  I can of course use chrome but I object to the way they've done this, and I am not alone.

Can people still comment here?  Try and let me know, should I stay or should I go?

JC