Thursday 18 February 2021

Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus and Numerology

There has been much written about Johann Bessler and how he may have used numerology.  I haven’t found any evidence that he did use it, although he may have been more interested in gematria.

He used alphanumerics to provide clues but they only led to further encoded clues. To get his pseudonym, Orffyreus, derived from his name Bessler, he used albam, a simple alphabetic substitution cipher originally used by Hebrew scribes to disguise the names of certain people they mentioned in their writings. Later it was known as the Caesar shift cipher used by the Romans. Today we refer to it as ROT13

He also used numbers in his drawings to achieve a certain total which would reveal a geometric design. He was fascinated by chronograms and produced numerous examples.  In an ordinary sentence he used certain Roman numerals which could be obtained from letters of the alphabet, to provide dates.

He used other codes but nowhere to my knowledge does he even hint at numerology. I see that , ‘the English word numerology is of recent origin, coming into existence around 1910 A.D. (dictionary.com). It is a combination of the Latin word "numerus," meaning numbers, and the ending "logy," which is used to designate the study or science of something. The definition of numerology, therefore, is the general study of numbers.”

I looked briefly into numerology and although it is a popular among some people it is generally regarded as a superstition. This is one reference among many that read,

Actually the numerology I use is based on origins of the contemplations of philosopher Pythagoras back in ancient Greece. He was not just a mathematician, but looked at what was behind numbers. The study of the vibration and effect of numbers is in the Bible (like in the Kabbalah), and pondered by philosophers, theologians and scientists way back in time. The actual onset of modern numerology, where each number has a certain meaning and the letters of the alphabet is assigned to a certain number, has most probably become standardized into a system in mid 1800s. Pythagoras and Chaldean methods are the most popular systems.”

I’m not expressing an opinion on numerology, just that I remain sceptical, but I would be delighted to be provided with proof of its efficacy. This would be nigh on impossible because all results could be coincidental. The interpretation of names, dates of birth and astrology are all in the same grouping along with religious belief systems - a matter of personal conviction.

So if modern numerology only became established in the mid 1800s it seems unlikely that Bessler would have used it. Gematria, on the other hand seems a more likely system used by Bessler. According to Wikipedia, ‘ an alphanumeric code  of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase based on its letters. A single word can yield multiple values depending on the cipher used.’.

It is clear that Bessler was familiar with the albam/atbash system used by the Hebrews and therefore other alternative but similar systems, too complex to deal with here but certainly studied by Bessler, in my opinion. But even acknowledging his personal knowledge of such systems, there seems little of value in deciphering his works to try to get additional meanings from them. Such techniques reveal themselves as nonsensical words.

There is one place where such elaborate methods might hide meaningful information and that is within the ‘Declaration of Faith’, in Apologia Poetica, chapter 55. There he presents about 141 Bible verse references with differing abbreviations, and quotations for verses a few of 
which seem not be found. For more information about my own attempts to decipher its hidden meaning visit my web site at http://www.orffyreus.net/

I think that numbering his fingers etc, in aid of a numerological interpretation is a road to nowhere.  The gesture itself may be designed to send a message, but perhaps it was just another example of Bessler’s delight in adding mystification to engender curiosity in the genuinely encoded material.

JC

Friday 12 February 2021

The Secret Message in Johann Bessler’s Hand

There are other idiosyncrasies to examine in Bessler’s portraits besides the ones I have pointed out on my website at  theorffyreuscode.com  but one I haven’t discussed before concerns the strangeness of Bessler’s hand gesture.  In the portrait below, notice the left hand, ringed in red. His little finger seems to be unusually separated from the next one, the ring finger.  In fact it looks almost as if it was originally placed next to the ring finger but then altered to appear in its current position or if you prefer, the two middle fingers are closer together than the two on either side.

There are several web sites explaining the significance of this feature which appears in a lot of Renaissance paintings. Three paintings picked at random below, demonstrate the point, but what does the gesture signify? 

During the Renaissance period, hands were as important a focus of attention as the face was, because they were the only other visible area of the body. Hence, representation of the position of the hands became a decorative element that was almost as important as the face. Thus, given its high visibility, hand gestures in portraits and paintings have been one of the most effective ways of conveying secrets, codes and messages.

It seems that there are two possible interpretation of this gesture.  First there is Freemasonry or Masonic membership and rank. Apparently the gesture was a secret sign used to recognize masonic followers. The enigmatic posture of the hand has fascinated a lot of scholars of hidden societies, who believe that the unusual splayed fingers represents the letter M, which indicated not only Masonic membership and rank, but also possession of occult secrets. That seems to fit with what we suspect about Bessler, but there is another possibility.


It was Ignacio de Loyola’s gesture for the atonement of sins 

According to this hypothesis, the gesture was a sign with a religious meaning used by Jesuits. San Ignacio de Loyola founded the Jesuits’ Order in 1541 and became its first Superior General. The Saint used to recommend a gesture for believers,  ‘each time one falls into sin, in laying the hand on the breast whilst inciting one’s inner self to grief.’ 

 

There are many more examples of this particular hand. signal in the paintings of that era, but their meaning, which must have been fairly widely understood still at the time, seems to have escaped modern interpretation. The fact that Johann Bessler adopted it in his portrait must indicate that he at least had some understanding of its importance and perhaps we can make some educated guesses given our knowledge of his particular circumstances. Firstly we know that he spent some time in Prague in the company of a Jesuit priest and a Rabbi. While he was there he claimed to have been taught about ‘the book of nature’ and ‘the language of angels’.  In 1623 Galileo crafted a famous metaphor that is still often cited by scientists. ‘Nature’, he wrote, ‘is a book written in “the language of mathematics”. If we cannot understand that language, we will be doomed to wander about as if “in a dark labyrinth”’.
 It is also known as the ‘language of  Enoch’.  Enochian is an occult or angelic language that was recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England. Dee was a man of science-turned-magic seeker, and Kelley was a spirit medium who worked with Dee in his magical investigations. The men claimed that the mystical language was revealed to them by the Enochian angels. 
It is also referred to as Celestial Speech, Angelical, The First Language of God and Adam, because they believed it was the language first used by Adam and Eve - perhaps even the language God used to speak everything into being. They were both active in Prague before Bessler’s time.

Much of the above is too speculative to make any firm conclusions but I think we can say with some certainty that Bessler included the gesture in order to convey some message to those who could  understand it.  

Perhaps someone may be able to provide more certainty either about its wide use, or Bessler’s particular intentions.

JC


Sunday 7 February 2021

The Legend of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine



Please feel free to comment if you wish and I will try to check back daily. So here it is again, 


  The Legend of Bessler's wheel.

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine. For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine it. Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, he devised a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.


Karl the Landgrave of Hesse permitted Bessler to live, work and exhibit his machine at the prince's castle of Weissenstein. Karl was a man of unimpeachable reputation and he insisted on being allowed to verify the inventor's claims before he allowed Bessler to take up residence. This the inventor reluctantly agreed to and once he had examined the machine to his own satisfaction Karl authorised the publication of his approval of the machine. For several years Bessler was visited by numerous people of varying status, scientists, ministers and royalty. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.


Over several years Karl aged and it was decided that the inventor should leave the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence that his machine was genuine, Bessler failed to secure a sale and after more than thirty years he died in poverty. His death came after he fell from a windmill he had been commissioned to build. The windmill was an interesting design using a vertical axle which allowed it to benefit from winds from any directions. 


He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret of his perpetual motion machine, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money and the buyer take the machine without viewing the internal workings. Those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble.


I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 75). I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I became convinced that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books.  These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published.  Subsequently I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal more information about his wheel.


For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites atwww.theorffyreuscode.com or see my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at http://www.orffyreus.net/

Also please view my video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWVKtpuzn0
It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.


The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. He implied that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that posthumus acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.

It has recently become clear that Bessler had a huge knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications. I have made considerable advances in deciphering his codes and I am confident that I have the complete design.

Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog. In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende...". I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number of loosely collected drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to do so at some point.

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

JC 

Friday 5 February 2021

76 Today!

 Yes I’m 76 today.  How long have I been chasing Bessler’s solution? It’s been about 60 years and I’ve hardly stopped thinking about Bessler’s wheel in all that time.  I was about 15 when I first encountered the legend of Bessler’s wheel - in a book called ‘Oddities’ written by the famous Rupert T. Gould - and I was immediately certain that the maid lied.  Of course I also realised that that opinion was not sufficient to prove the inventor’s claims to have invented a perpetual motion machine were genuine.  I told my physics teacher about Bessler and asked him if it was possible - big mistake!  I couldn’t even hear his response because of the gales of laughter which erupted after my question.  Everyone knew such claims were fake.  I learned then, not to discuss my ideas with anyone else.

Afterwards, one boy who I had always thought of as clever but boring said to me, ‘don’t take what you’re taught as gospel, check it out for yourself, so you know if it’s true.  Don’t believe everything you’re told until you have satisfied yourself what is the truth.’  Sound advice and I’ve applied it through out my life.

I did consider trying to get more information about Bessler but at that age and without the internet, I had no idea how to go about it.  So I postponed any decision to investigate further to a later date, a year or a decade!

Over the next few years, from time to time, I drew sketches and plans of perpetual motion machines, and resolved to build a few when the opportunity occurred. But you know how it is when you’re young and busy, I had no time or inclination to build.  But when I was 29, I was browsing in a second-hand book shop and I came across the book, ‘Oddities’ by Rupert Thomas Gould again - and I bought it, and I still have it. That book reignited my search for the truth about Johann Bessler.  You know the rest.

So here I am, some 60 years later, am I further on towards the solution?  Yes.  You might think, ‘I knew he’d say that anyway, if only to justify a lifetime’s effort’. But I am.  Even though my design failed the sim test. I remain confident that I know enough of the design to succeed in building a working model. I do realise I’m an incurable optimist, you have to be in this field of endeavour, and it certainly helps if you have the determination to succeed, and I have.  I just hope I’m right.

JC

Saturday 30 January 2021

The Legend of Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine

I have noticed that posting, “ The Legend of Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine”, which I repost occasionally, has recently gathered a lot of visits from people who seem to have googled Johann Bessler and come here to find out more about him.  I assume that there are still a lot of people who have never heard of him which I feel I should do something about.  I’m not sure what I can do about that until someone discovers his secret, but I can continue to occasionally repost the brief details of his life to get more people interested in trying to reconstruct his wheel.


The Legend of Bessler's wheel, or the Wheel of Orffyreus

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine. For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine it. Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, he devised a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.


Karl the Landgrave of Hesse permitted Bessler to live, work and exhibit his machine at the prince's castle of Weissenstein. Karl was a man of unimpeachable reputation and he insisted on being allowed to verify the inventor's claims before he allowed Bessler to take up residence. This the inventor reluctantly agreed to and once he had examined the machine to his own satisfaction Karl authorised the publication of his approval of the machine. For several years Bessler was visited by numerous people of varying status, scientists, ministers and royalty. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.


Over several years Karl aged and it was decided that the inventor should leave the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence that his machine was genuine, Bessler failed to secure a sale and after more than thirty years he died in poverty. His death came after he fell from a windmill he had been commissioned to build. The windmill was an interesting design using a vertical axle which allowed it to benefit from winds from any directions. 


He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret of his perpetual motion machine, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money and the buyer take the machine without viewing the internal workings. Those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble.


I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 75). I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I became convinced that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books.  These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published.  Subsequently I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal more information about his wheel.


For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites atwww.theorffyreuscode.com or see my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at http://www.orffyreus.net/

Also please view my video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWVKtpuzn0
It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.


The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. He implied that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that posthumus acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.

It has recently become clear that Bessler had a huge knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications. I have made considerable advances in deciphering his codes and I am confident that I have the complete design.

Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog. In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende...". I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number of loosely collected drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to do so at some point.

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

To recap the evidence in support Johann. Bessler’s claims, see my previous blog at,


JC 

Saturday 23 January 2021

The Evidence Supporting Johann Bessler’s PM Machine.

For the last twenty-five years I have been publicly maintaining that Johann Bessler really did invent what used to be known as a Perpetual Motion machine.  Before I even wrote my Bessler biography, ‘Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?’, I had already satisfied myself that he was genuine by studying the available evidence. Because the events took place more than 300 years ago this evidence took the form of a huge number of documents,  some by Bessler, others by witnesses, newspaper reports and letters.  

But surely such machines are impossible? Scientists, teachers, historians have all ruled out any chance that perpetual motion machines might be possible. Yes they have, but there are two things to bear in mind.  The definition of what constitutes a perpetual motion (PM) machine has altered since 1847 and even given today’s version there are ways to avoid its implications .... and complementary to this is the apparently conflicting evidence that they ARE possible.

I’m not going to discuss the definitions of PM because it’s been covered numerous times both here and on the Besslerwheel forum, but I think it’s worth taking another look at the strong circumstantial evidence.

We should examine the reasons why and how Bessler provided the specific evidence which was designed to prove that his machine was genuine.  Several demonstrations were suggested by the famous scientist and polymath, Gottfried Leibniz, a man of equal intellect to Sir Isaac Newton, his contemporary.  Leibniz had considerable knowledge in the field of mechanics and designed a built his mechanical calculator, plus his interests included mathematics, logic, mining religion and history to mention just a few. He had been able to study the machine on two occasions and even though he was unable to state categorically that it was a perpetual motion machine, he was convinced that it was a remarkable invention and too valuable to be ignored.  There are many letters from Leibniz to some of his correspondents discussing the wheel and how it might have worked.

The first piece of evidence which on its own could be argued as being definitively and unarguably positive, was the insistence by Karl the Landgrave of Hesse that he be permitted to examine the interior of Bessler’s machine before allowing him to demonstrate it at his castle Weissenstein in front of expert witnesses.  Karl was a highly respected ruler and amateur scientist and a correspondent of Leibniz.  He acted as honest broker negotiating between the warring nations of Europe which required absolute probity.  But he was also known as a ‘curious gentleman’ which in those days described members of such organisations as the Royal Society who maintained an interest in studying the latest findings in the new subjects in science, and in Karl’s case sponsoring research.  He had no interest or need to be involved in anything of a dubious nature.

The other pieces of evidence can be summed up as follows. The final machine or ‘wheel’ as it was called, could turn in either direction, requiring a gentle push in one or other direction from which gentle push it accelerated  to its top speed. This should have ruled out any suggestion that it was wound up.

The wheel was demonstrated spinning on one set of bearings, it was then stopped and moved to a second set of bearings a few feet away where it was then given a push in either direction, accelerating again to its top speed. This was designed to allow examiners to check for connections between the axle bearings and the pillars which supported the device.  The bearings were left open and it was clear that there was nothing of a suspicious nature present.

The same wheel was attached to a rope passing over a pulley and from thence down several feet to the castle courtyard.  It lifted a chest of stones weighing 70 pounds from the courtyard up to the roof, and was then rotated in the opposite direction to lower the chest again.

The wheel was attached to an Archimedes screw to pump water which it demonstrated in action.

Finally Karl the Landgrave ordered Bessler to start his machine spinning.  The door to the room was locked and  sealed with the Landgrave’s seal and a guard ordered to stand watch outside the door.  The wheel ran for a total of 54 days with one stop to inspect that it was still working with no undue wear and tear and restarted.  The room had been examined both before and after the demonstration, to check that there were no secret connection to any adjoining rooms.  Nothing suspicious was found.

The other recommendation from Leibniz was to arrange for official demonstrations and examinations to be carried out by experts, ministers, professors, and the nobility, and get them to sign a certificate describing what they witnessed.  They were encouraged to try to discover any signs of fraud or deception but none were ever discovered.

It is hard to know what else Bessler could have done to prove his machine was genuine.  I know that people have suggested some ways the inventor could have cheated, but each of them require the complicit assistance of Karl, or some other person, but frankly such suggestions are clutching at straws.

NB For those who are unfamiliar with the legend of Johann Bessler’s perpetual motion machine, see my previous blog. 

 https://johncollinsnews.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-legend-of-johann-besslers-perpetual.html

JC



Tuesday 12 January 2021

The Legend of Johann Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine

Once again I’m posting the Legend of Bessler’s wheel because I’m going to be working hard on finishing my reconstruction of Bessler’s wheel. 2020 was another traumatic year for my family and it was a year of unbelievable events and consequences for the rest of the world. There was little time to spend in my garage where the build should have been happening, but time is racing by and I must concentrate on finishing the job. The sooner I finish it the better.


Please feel free to comment if you wish and I will try to check back daily. So here it is again, 

The Legend of Bessler's wheel.

On 6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had succeeded in designing and building a perpetual motion machine. For more than fourteen years he exhibited his machine and allowed people to thoroughly examine it. Following advice from the famous scientist, Gottfried Leibniz, who was able to examine the device, he devised a number of demonstrations and tests designed to prove the validity of his machine without giving away the secret of its design.


Karl the Landgrave of Hesse permitted Bessler to live, work and exhibit his machine at the prince's castle of Weissenstein. Karl was a man of unimpeachable reputation and he insisted on being allowed to verify the inventor's claims before he allowed Bessler to take up residence. This the inventor reluctantly agreed to and once he had examined the machine to his own satisfaction Karl authorised the publication of his approval of the machine. For several years Bessler was visited by numerous people of varying status, scientists, ministers and royalty. Several official examinations were carried out and each time the examiners concluded that the inventor's claims were genuine.


Over several years Karl aged and it was decided that the inventor should leave the castle and he was granted accommodation in the nearby town of Karlshafen. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence that his machine was genuine, Bessler failed to secure a sale and after more than thirty years he died in poverty. His death came after he fell from a windmill he had been commissioned to build. The windmill was an interesting design using a vertical axle which allowed it to benefit from winds from any directions. 


He had asked for a huge sum of money for the secret of his perpetual motion machine, £20,000 which was an amount only affordable by kings and princes, and although many were interested, none were prepared to agree to the terms of the deal. Bessler required that he be given the money and the buyer take the machine without viewing the internal workings. Those who sought to purchase the wheel, for that was the form the machine took, insisted that they see the secret mechanism before they parted with the money. Bessler feared that once the design was known the buyers could simply walk away knowing how to build his machine and he would get nothing for his trouble.


I became curious about the legend of Bessler’s Wheel, while still in my teens, and have spent most of my life researching the life of Johann Bessler (I’m now 75). I obtained copies of all his books and had them translated into English and self-published them, in the hope that either myself or someone else might solve the secret and present it to the world in this time of pollution, global warming and increasingly limited energy resources.

Not long after I was able to read the English translations of his books, I became convinced that Bessler had embedded a number of clues in his books.  These took the form of hints in the text, but also in a number of drawings he published.  Subsequently I found suggestions by the author that studying his books would reveal more information about his wheel.


For some ideas about Bessler’s code why not visit my web sites atwww.theorffyreuscode.com or see my work on his “Declaration of Faith” at http://www.orffyreus.net/

Also please view my video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWVKtpuzn0
It gives a brief account both the legend and some more detail about some of the codes.


The problem of obtaining a fair reward for all his hard work was anticipated by Bessler and he took extraordinary measures to ensure that his secret was safe, but he encoded all the information needed to reconstruct the machine in a small number of books that he published. He implied that he was prepared to die without selling the secret and that he believed that posthumus acknowledgement was preferable to being robbed of his secret while he yet lived.

It has recently become clear that Bessler had a huge knowledge of the history of codes and adopted several completely different ones to disguise information within his publications. I have made considerable advances in deciphering his codes and I am confident that I have the complete design.

Johann Bessler published three books, and digital copies of these with English translations may be obtained from the links to the right of this blog. In addition there is a copy of his unpublished document containing some 141 drawings - and my own account of Bessler’s life is also available from the links. It is called "Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?

Bessler's three published books are entitled "Grundlicher Bericht", "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphirende...". I have called Bessler's collection of 141 drawings Maschinen Tractate, but it was originally found in the form of a number of loosely collected drawings of perpetual motion designs. Many of these have handwritten notes attached and I have published the best English translation of them that I was able to get. Bessler never published these drawings but clearly intended to do so at some point.

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

JC 

17682

Tuesday 5 January 2021

Update for January 2021. Don’t Throw Out Your Old Designs.

When I look back over my many iterations to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel, I’m amazed at the variety of designs I’ve tried, but some seem utterly useless in retrospect, and I wonder why I even thought they might lead to success.  But trial and error is a great way to reach understanding - and a wealth of experience of failure helps!  But sometimes it’s worth looking back at previous designs with the  improved knowledge of hindsight.

I’m still working on the Bessler project and hoping to finish it with a working proof of principle wheel.  I’m reluctant to share my work before I’ve finished it for reasons I’ll explain, but I’m providing an update because despite recent failed sims I’m still working on the project. There has been some fair criticism that with my recent failed design I did not explain how I arrived at that design and why I attributed it to Bessler’s clues.  I could demonstrate what clues I used and my understanding of them, but without a working model they are no more valid than Ken B’s clues, so until I succeed I will say as little as possible about them.

The reason for my reluctance to share my work is because, in my experience, publishing examples of logical clue interpretation, code deciphering and inspired speculation, however impressive I might think it is, receives little positive feedback.  I think that people are being bombarded with theories from all around the world and without any firm evidence in the form of a working wheel, it’s just so much speculation and hot air.  Everyone has their own pet theories and any one of them might lead to success.

I am making this current version of the wheel according to my personal belief that I know the answer,  which came to me from an article I wrote over ten years ago. It’s ironic that a design I considered so long ago and which might hold the answer was missed and its implications unnoticed.  But better late than never.

I’m working on what I think is the design concept that allowed Bessler’s wheel to act within the rules of physics. It’s not an amazing revelation, just something that clicked in my mind when I considered three apparently unrelated items, a reported feature of Bessler’s wheel and something in the article I mentioned above plus a detail I had been working on previously. 

I feel as though 2021 will be my best shot at making a working PoP wheel, and I’m going to finish it.  I had a huge workshop until 4 years ago when we moved house, then it was the garage, now it’s a small corner of the garage, what next?  Who knows? So simulating may well be the next step - but only after I’ve finished this build!  It it works I can forget the sims. 😁

JC

Wednesday 30 December 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR - Will Bessler’s Wheel Run in 2021?

As we enter 2021 I marvel that way back in the New Year of 2012, I thought that that coming year would see us celebrating the 300th year since Bessler discovered the secret of the Perpetual Motion machine, with a working model of his wheel.   Yet here we are, nine years later no nearer to success than we were back the ....or are we? But as I frequently say, there will never be a better time than right now, for someone, somewhere on this planet, to produce a working version of Bessler’s wheel.  Really, it is desperately important that we solve this ancient enigma, because there is no cheaper, no simpler and more viable an alternative to producing electricity than Bessler’s wheel.

I am well aware that some people dismiss this invention as nothing more than a toy, incapable of satisfying our electrical needs, but this need not be true.  All machines are scalable and we don’t need to be put off by the imagined enormous size of such a wheel.  You only have to look at the modern windmills scattered over the countryside, here in England and elsewhere and off shore to see that they are monstrous sized machines, Typical modern wind turbines have diameters of 40 to 90 metres (130 to 300 ft) and heights of 328 feet, but much larger ones are planned.

So if we wish to consider the potential size of the Bessler-wheel electricity generator, then the main consideration to overcome is not so much the size as the RPM. High speed rotation to generate electricity requires complex heavy gearing, just like the ones in the windmills, and therefor an efficient and heavy Bessler’s wheel is needed to overcome the load induced by the electric generator. But this is no different to modern windmills which turn at a leisurely 10 or 20 rpm, but produce a turbine speed in excess of 3000 rpm.

We might reduce the potential height of a Bessler generator by, in effect, placing ten or fifteen wheels on one axle.  I’m sure that given suitable research an eight or ten foot high machine with a long axle of anything up to 20 or thirty feet would have a far less detrimental effect on the landscape, and it could be located within a building or even underground.

From what I know I’m fairly confident that this year someone will produce a working Bessler-wheel in 2021. When it happens there are plenty of people with enough financial muscle to take Bessler’s wheel, and research and develop it and bring it into use and provide a solution for the cheap clean energy we need.

JC 

Saturday 19 December 2020

A Revision of the Estimated Weight of the Kassel Wheel.

In my biography of Johann Bessler, ‘Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?’, I gave a fairly detailed explanation of how I estimated the weight of the Kassel wheel.  I did that a few years ago and I think that I overestimated the weight.

So my new starting point was the translocation of the wheel between the two sets of bearings.  Bessler explained that he had to remove the weights prior to translocation because despite the strength of his brother, it ‘would have needed the devil to lift it’. I had previously assumed that the two men might have been able to lift the wheel plus it’s axle and covering oil cloth, if it weighed no more than 300 pounds without the weights, but I now think that would still have been too heavy and prefer to assume an unladen weight of 200 pounds, so they would need to lift 100 pounds each.

How the lift was carried out is not described other than to say the wheel was carried a few steps to the second set of bearings.  I speculated the presence of a movable platform on either side of the wheel, stretching from before one set of bearings to beyond the other, raising the two brothers so their shoulders could get under the axle which was at least six feet off the ground.  But they could also have done without the platform by using a pair of special ‘Y’ shaped yokes resting on their shoulders and high enough to fit under the axle.

Alternatively if they used two long poles over thirteen foot in length, they could each support opposite ends of the two poles which passed along the two sides of the wheel and under the axle, and  simply carry it from A to B.  But those poles would be heavy so would add to the weight they had to carry.  A system based on two specially adapted wheel barrows designed to fit under the axle would have worked, but I still favour the use of platforms because they would also make it easy for the examiners to study the bearings from close to, and from above, as well as below, something they were easily able to do.

So at what weight did it require ‘the devil to lift it?’ We don’t know how many weights there were, but Christian Wolff describes how he was able to handle one of several weights and estimated its weight at four pounds.  If we begin by assuming that there were eight weights, one for each of the eight spokes that’s an extra thirty two pounds to the two hundred pounds of  the unladen wheel.  

If the wheel contained a mirror image of duplicate weights designed to turn it in either direction then the total weight of the wheel to be lifted is 264 pounds, but is that beyond the capabilities of the two brothers to lift it?  I don’t think it’s enough, and of course many people think the mirrored mechanism wasn’t necessary leaving the total at 232.  

Perhaps there were two four pound weights on each spoke?  That would make the total either 264 or 328 pounds if it used the mirror image.  I’m not even sure if Bessler would think that was too heavy, but at this point it’s worth considering how long it would take to remove and replace 32, 4 pound weights every time he did a translocation. How patient would his audience of high ranking men be?  I don’t know, but Bessler was a natural showman I imagine he explained in humorous tones what he was doing and why, but it was still a fairly lengthy task.

Wolff describes the sound of a spring being ‘raised aloft’, but I don’t know what that would sound like, but I think it must have related to the way the weights were attached to levers.  The simplest method allowing quick attachment and detachment  would be some kind of split pin above and below the weights through the lever even so it might take at least 30 minutes to detach and reattach the weights, and move the wheel, each time he did a translocation.

Of course as many here know, I still think there might have been only five mechanisms which would reduce the weight of the wheel, leaving the option to add more weights.

Finally why did Bessler wrap the weights in a handkerchief prior to allowing them to be handled by witnesses? Although Wolff thought it was done to disguise the appearance of the weights I think it was to protect his visitors hands from animal grease used as a lubricant in the mechanisms.  This brings me to another potentially limiting factor - the bearings,

I think the Kassel wheel was designed to achieve the endurance test, so it was designed to turn more slowly, yet still have the ability to lift the 70 pound box of stones.  It also had to have bearings which could survive the endurance test without failing too soon.  They were only three quarters of an inch thick to reduce friction and must have been well greased.  Animal fats or combinations of olive oil or linseed oil and thickeners such as chalk were commonly used but were probably messy and with Bessler handling weights frequently they needed to be wrapped to protect his visitors from spoiling their hands and clothing. Apparently some lubricants in common use were ‘black slugs’ so that would increase the desire not to offend his audience by spreading their residue! 

The size of the bearings must have limited the weight they could support without failing and therefore I would limit the maximum weight of the whole wheel to be no more than 500 pounds, which allows for more weights if necessary. These extra weights might be necessary in order to achieve the lifting of the 70 pound box of stones and the turning of the Archimedes screw. Perhaps Bessler included some kind of bath or reservoir of lubricant around each bearing during the endurance test to maintain sufficient lubrication during the endurance test.

JC

Monday 14 December 2020

Are There Any Unprejudiced Documentary Makers Out There?

The efforts to encourage the world’s governments to take action to try to slow global warming is becoming ever more intense.  Besides planning on reducing or eventually ceasing the manufacture of gas driven cars and the burning of all fossil fuel by a certain date, the search continues for a new form of energy with which we can power our lives.  The obvious solution is electricity, but the means to generate it without the current issues attached to that is proving difficult - and storing it at an economical price remains an obstinately intractable problem.

So why is it that we still can’t persuade any of the world's scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs or wealthy investors to take an unbiased look at the evidence of Johann Bessler’s wheel, and realise that the problem of global warming might just lie within this simple mechanical device?  The answer is always the same; gravity is not an energy source.  How many times have you read that?  Too many!

Of course it’s true, but it is still used as an energy source indirectly.  Everything which involves a motion which relies on gravity needs a system such as rain to replenish what ever has fallen i.e., water, or it has to be lifted back to its  starting point, weights.  There are lots of way this is done, and by doing this we use gravity as an energy source - yes I know....indirectly.  

Bessler’s wheel also used gravity but was able to lift the fallen weights back up ready to fall again.  Another concept we’ve all read over and over again!  At some point  Bessler’s wheel will reappear and everyone will say, ‘of course, it’s obvious, why did no one think of that before?’  Why indeed.  It’s not for want of trying, and if the world at large did not laugh at our pathetic attempts to create a perpetual motion machine like Johann Bessler’s, we who inhabit this niche world would be more forthcoming in public, whereas we only have each other at this time.

When I flew to Rome to be interviewed for RA1 TV,  I was talked to on a one to one basis, but when the documentary came out there were several experts shown who gave their views on my interview and basically dismissed Bessler’s claims along with myself and the rest of us.  We need a documentary done by someone who is open to the suggestion that Bessler’s claims need to be re-examined and the evidence of his success reviewed.  I’m sure it would grab a lot of attention and maybe focus the minds of those who might be interested in financing legitimate professional researchers with a laboratory full of engineers using the best equipment.

JC 



Monday 7 December 2020

The Need to Find the Solution to PM Continues in 2021.

This has been a traumatic year for everyone but hopefully 2021 will be better with the successful administering of one or more of the proven vaccines against Covid-19.  Things tend to look brighter in the spring and I have that same old feeling I get each year that the new year will herald the birth of the new version of Johann Bessler’s wheel, a working replica of his original one.

This year, as every year, I remain confident because I found what I think is the solution ....again!  I have been working on the same design for maybe three years only to find I had made a mistake.  Three years of effort to come to a standstill.  But that’s par for the course in this field of endeavour and a common experience among all of us and we never, ever give up.  Because even though the ultimate reward may be less than we hoped for, to receive acknowledgement for our achievement would mean the world to us. But the reward could be huge both financially as well as beneficially for the planet Earth, leading to climate cooling, pollution reducing, energy saving.

What an amazing achievement for who ever succeeds, and it could be anybody and possibly more than one.  To prove all the naysayers wrong - the scornful, the scientists, teachers and of course the bulk of the populations, how very satisfying that would be!  So let’s all recharge our batteries over the holidays and start afresh with renewed vigour, optimism and determination not to let this solution evade our best efforts in 2021.

I’ll be 76 in February, some 60 years since I first learned of the legend of Bessler’s wheel, and I think it’s about time I was proved correct in my conviction that Johann Bessler did not defraud anyone about his claim to have invented the perpetual motion device for which he became so famous, (or notorious). So anybody out there who thinks they might have the answer, get to work, build a PoP wheel, or make a sim that proves we were right all those years ago.

JC

Tuesday 1 December 2020

Information in English About Johann Bessler (aka Orffyreus)

The Legend of Bessler’s Wheel or the Orffyreus Wheel and the verifiable facts.

I think that the more we speculate the more confusion we can add. Speculation can be taken as fact and if further ideas are added that can compound the problem. I’m not promoting my books as the ultimate source of information on Bessler because there are so many historical documents which remain unexplored due to their poor condition or because they are lost in numerous private libraries. But for now they provide a quick and easy source of information on Johann Bessler and his perpetual motion machine.

Even though I published my biography of Johann Bessler several years ago, the information in it has not altered, because it is based on old documents written more than 300 years ago. There are new additional facts which need to be added at some point but they are details about his later life and although of interest do not impinge on the history of his perpetual motion machine. There are also Bessler’s own books which he published which cover his life in his own words and provide much information. The only other thing relevant to his story which I didn’t publish are two critiques written by his enemy, Christian Wagner and they are freely available in English at my main website, see below.

What follows is a list of my books, all but my biography were originally produced by Bessler to which I added a full English translation. The books are available in both hard copy and also as a digital PDF file.  The digital file allows easy searches for words and names.

I hope that people will continue to use these books as a source of accurate information in their journey of discovery to find the solution to Bessler’s wheel.

1) “Perpetual Motion: An Ancient Mystery Solved?”  View the synopsis for details of the book’s contents at my web site. http://www.free-energy.co.uk/html/synopsis.html.  Briefly it is an account taken from of every document relating to Bessler that I could find from files held in museums around the world, researched and translated. Buy Now


2) “Apologia Poetica”   This was Bessler’s account of his life up until the time of Karl the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel’s patronage. The book contains the original German transcribed into a modern font and includes a full English translation at the rear. I would have preferred to include the original German font but it was in such poor condition that it would have been unreadable. This book contains some allusions to secret codes hidden within the book itself.  Buy Now


3) “Das Triumphans Perpetuum Mobile “- this was Bessler’s most professionally finished book. It was written in both German and Latin and this edition is a faithful reproduction of the actual pages of the original book. It also includes a full English translation at the rear. A number of drawings are included by the original author and these are said to contain a number of clues as to his machine’s workings.
Buy Now



4) “Gruendlicher Bericht” - this was Bessler’s first publication, ostensibly produced by a friend although I think one can detect Bessler’s handiwork in places. This copy is also in the original German and includes a full English translation at the rear. It also includes the very first drawing which Bessler published and this also contains clues to the way his machine worked.
Buy Now



5) “Maschinen Tractate” - this was found in the Bessler’s possessions after his death, in the form of a number of pages (141) and which contained a message on the front of the volume which stated that he had removed the drawings which depicted how his machine worked but that some one with a penetrating mind could by studying several drawings ultimately discover the secret of its construction. I have reproduced the drawings as they were found.  I included his handwritten notes with the best translation I could obtain, since the writing is very hard to read.
Buy Now


You can also read Christian Wagner’s two critiques of Bessler’s wheel at my main web site.

 Copies of all the above books can be obtained from my web site at 

Books available from www.free-energy.co.uk    

Recently I discovered that the ‘buy now’ button had become corrupted, and it was difficult to use. Hopefully I can fix that, but I shall post the book page here and after a few days place it on the permanent side page with the option to buy from there.

Alternatively you can use the buttons in the lower part of the right side panel under the heading, ‘My Publications’, which also takes you to a payment page.

There are some excellent additional resources and a forum for discussion at the  

Besslerwheel forum

The best German web site is at http://www.besslerrad.de/html/bekannte_details.html

That’s all.  Of course some people prefer to continue their research into perpetual motion machines without referring to Bessler’s own efforts and I respect that, but for those who like to have the information relating to Johann Bessler aka Orffyreus to hand in an easily accessible format, the books detailed above provide a good digital resource.

JC

Wednesday 25 November 2020

Divergent Thinking

Divergent Thinking - noun, thinking that moves away in diverging directions so as to involve a variety of aspects and which sometimes lead to novel ideas and solutions, associated with creativity. 

I’ve tried to avoid that well-worn phrase, ‘think outside the box’, and offer some ideas of how to do that.

I note the interesting point in one of the comments in a recent blog, about how the researchers into this subject seem to be in one of two camps, those who seek Johann Bessler’s solution and those who seek any solution and not necessarily Bessler’s - in fact some try to avoid any of Bessler’s clues.  I think that’s ok although some might see little difference, especially if both succeed, and the end result is the same.

For myself having become immersed in everything Bessler, it is no surprise that I should try to use my knowledge about him to aid me in my research, however I have, from time to time, diverted my attention to areas away from Bessler’s wheel and not just other wheel makers but the science of possibilities. (I borrowed the title of a book by Jon Freeman). 

Having found what I believe to be coded information about his wheels, I’m bound to try to use that information to recreate his wheel, but that still leads to confusion as recent events show, so even though I’m a firm believer in Bessler’s solution I continue to try to approach the problem in new innovative ways.  

I read that we tend to use the left brain for its logical thought processes, but we ignore the right brain for its creative abilities, at our peril. Something that can bridge the gap between the two halves of the brain is, for instance, poetry. I have written poems about the problem and the search for the solution over the years and maintaining the use of the right, creative half of the brain by writing poetry can help us see things more clearly.  You don’t need to show anyone your poem, it’s there to help you.  I have written dozens of poems over the years but I’ve published no more than two or three.

Alternatively draw a picture of the problem, again you’re working the creative right side of your brain. Working the problem backwards starting with the working wheel can help too, anything that helps us to look with fresh eyes may lead to a solution or part of one.

I also read a lot and I sometimes think of something while my eyes are fully engaged in reading but the old right brain is quietly ruminating on the problem and it might be nothing to do with what you’re reading, but something can occur that takes your attention away from the book and you may find yourself gazing into space thinking along a new thread that looks promising concerning the problem.

But is it possible that Bessler’s solution is the only one or might there be another way to get a working gravity wheel? My thinking is this, if Bessler found a concept, a design which worked for him, it seems to me that that might be the only concept that works, but there may be more than one way to incorporate such an action by means of a mechanism which achieves the same concept in a different way. 

I also note that his explanations of how his wheel worked are so full of ambiguity that the right interpretation may only become known once the secret is revealed in a successful wheel.

JC

Friday 20 November 2020

The Mystery of Johann Bessler’s Codes

To us, Johann Bessler’s thoughts and actions seems to suggest he was slightly paranoid, but given that his invention of the amazing gravity wheel, or perpetual motion machine, was the end result of more than ten years of intensive research, experimentation and trial and error, it’s not surprising.  He was obsessively determined to keep the secret of its construction to himself until he had been paid in full by anyone who wished to buy his machine. 

But the  negotiation was fraught with difficulty.  He told prospective buyers to put the cash on the table and they could take the machine away.  They insisted on checking that the machine was genuine by viewing the interior.  Bessler could not allow this because they could note the design and then walk away and build their own.  Despite the evidence of the only person ever allowed to see inside the wheel, the highly respected Karl, Landgrave of Hesse, who validated his claims, no sale was ever finalised.  Bessler designed a number of tests which he hoped would prove his claims and even though we cannot imagine how he would have managed to fake it, without an internal inspection no one accepted the evidence presented.

Bessler would not have wanted to die without having sold his machine; and thus his claims dismissed and his books forgotten. But....he implies more than once that if he fails to sell the secret he would rather die than give his secret away.  He also says that if the reader has questions he should study ‘this little book’, Apologia Poetica.  His suggestion on the front of Maschinen Tractate to study ‘more than one drawing’  which will eventually lead to the answer. He says he was given much information of an esoteric nature and was taught, for instance ‘the language of angels’, which was an occult language used by John Dee in the 16th century in Prague, where Bessler lived for a time.

This led me to conclude many years ago, that Bessler intended right from the beginning, probably before he even found the solution to his wheel, to plant information about his wheel in future publications and had already learned about a number of ways of hiding it. So once I suspected that there might be information to be found, it became obvious that it was there but disguised behind a veil of innocent looking, uninteresting and easily dismissed pages of text and drawings.

Bessler’s first clue was the strange pseudonym, Orffyreus, achieved through use of an ancient and well-known cipher.  This simple code was so obvious that one might wonder why he used it. It led one to look for other different codes but also equally well-known. This feature was developed extensively throughout his books and letters but the significant fact about all of them is that none of them seem to be helpful towards understanding his secret, which begs the question why?

The work done by Øystein reveals additional layers of mystery, Rosicrucian and Masonic codes. I have my own ideas about why this was done.  If we accept that Bessler planned to hide instructions for building his gravity wheel in his publications, but deliberately hid it within an exceedingly complex code, so that it was very unlikely that anyone would manage to decipher it during his life, how could he be sure that someone would eventually find the code and decipher it?  The answer would seem to be that only those people steeped in the subject of codes, such as the practitioners of Øystein’s Rosicrucian and Masonic codes, and perhaps some acquaintances of the Jesuit priest and the Rabbi, in Prague.  They would be attracted into studying his books by the presence of apparently purposeless codes, recognise and decipher them.  The knowledge that the more complex codes might be heralded by the simpler more obvious codes would attract the attention of certain members of semi-secret societies, the acknowledged experts on ancient codes.

Aside from the many graphic codes to be found in the Apologia Poetica book, there are the 600 plus ‘etc’s, previously identified as ‘x’s, but later revealed to mean ‘etc’ in Fraktur font.  There are far too many of them to make sense other than being part of a code and there are none in his subsequent books. Then there are the 55 rhyming couplets in chapter 55 of Apologia Poetica, containing 141 Bible references, the same number as used in the Toys page, also numbered 141. Some Bible references are repeated, others cannot be found. Bessler also exhibited an apparent obsession with chronograms, providing numerous examples both in his private documents  as well as his  annual panegyrics to Karl. All of this suggestive of hidden information.

Bessler sought and received permission to build a tomb for himself and his family in the garden of the house he occupied during his final years in Karlshafen.  It was an unusual request at the time and it is interesting to speculate on the possible reasons why.  If we accept the two kinds of coded information I have surmised is buried within his publications, then it could be that Bessler left additional clues on his tomb. I think there might be some curious people who would like to visit his tomb and there they might read an inscription giving some extra information either about the wheel or the codes which lead to a description.  Sadly the tomb has long since been destroyed.  There is now a tarmac carpark covering what used to be part of his garden.

There is so much more, too much to go into here, but plenty to occupy the mind of a cipher expert. Perhaps we need the help of the Bletchley group from the Second World War, or better still, some modern equivalent.

I think this explains the reasons for the simple codes as well as the more complex ones.

JC

Thursday 12 November 2020

Why Do We Keep Trying To Solve Bessler’s Wheel?!

I ask this question because a discussion on the Besslerwheel forum touched on it. I know when I first encountered R. Gould’s account of the legend of Bessler’s wheel, I became certain that the maid had lied describing her part in a deception designed to convince people that Bessler’s wheel was faked.

In a court of law the defence tries to discredit an important witness i.e., the maid, and proving that they lied might lead to the case being thrown out.  Add to that the word of a just and reputable witness for the defence, i.e., Karl the Landgrave,  who saw the interior of Bessler’s wheel, and it becomes certain.  Generally one adds the support of a respected character witness, i.e., Gottfried Leibniz, and huge damages might be awarded too the accused,

So my first thought was, how wonderful it would be to prove wrong, all those complacent teachers who dismissed my questions about the possibility of building a perpetual motion machine with scorn and laughter. Later, once I had added absolute certainty to my earlier naive self by researching the history of the inventor, I began to think in terms of financial reward, and add to that the enormous enjoyment in proving the experts wrong, plus acknowledgement that I was right and they were wrong.

Latterly the need for high financial returns have been mitigated by two things, firstly the growing need for something which will reduce the effect of climate change, pollution and the lack of any realistic economic solutions to the energy crisis. I think that is far more important - and secondly my granddaughter, Amy’s need for strong financial support once she comes home from the neurological rehab unit, although she’s an extremely determined young woman who won’t be tamed by a waist-downwards paralysis!

Returning to the emotive term which we all use, ‘perpetual motion’, ever since I started on this journey, my questions, ideas and beliefs have been met with instant dismissal, scorn or laughter or sometimes I think they are humouring me out of politeness.  This reaction can generate mild paranoia in your mind and you get so you don’t want to mention it for fear of an unwanted response.  But of course they may not be humouring me, perhaps they are really interested, but we all want to be liked or respected and we tend to play safe and say nothing.

Bessler seemed unhappy with the term, (I’m calling it PM to save me time) calling his wheel self-moving and arguing that it couldn’t be perpetual anyway because nothing lasts for ever, wood rots, metals corrode, wear and tear and break downs occur.  The word, perpetual, implied infinite and without end, whereas, continuous, does not.  

We refer to steam engines, petrol engines, diesel engines, water wheels etc, because those names refer not to the energy source but to an important ingredient without which they cannot function.  Electric cars rely on stored energy from their batteries.  They each depend on something which is not an energy source but which can be used to create an energy source and which they use to produce motion.

The engines I’ve mentioned use fuel which has to be converted into an energy source. Wood, coal, oil, petrol, gas all kinds of fuel which need to be burned to produce heat, hence the term burning fossil fuels.  Other kinds of fuel provide energy in different ways but all of them require an intermediary, such as fuel ignition system, hydroelectric and water wheel systems need flowing water, courtesy of gravity, in fact they rely on it.

Which leads us to the Bessler wheel, which in my opinion relies on the presence of gravity without which it cannot function. It’s intermediaries are the weights. The logical name for it is either gravity wheel or gravity engine.

My answer to the question in the title of this blog...I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW HE DID IT!

JC






Friday 6 November 2020

Simulators versus Hands-on Building for Me

I have taken a long hard look at sim software but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion I’m too old to start learning how to use a new piece of software just now when a solution is urgently required.  I hope people don’t think I didn’t take the task seriously because I did and I read many of the comments about simming on Besslerwheel forum.  I was initially determined to take the advice offered but in the end I realised it was going to take too much time to understand and learn to use it and trust what I was seeing. I think my time would be better spent building my new wheel.  Despite the seeming setback that wubbly’s sim presented I am still feeling positive and optimistic that I can succeed in this venture. 

Those of you who build will probably know how, at one or more points during a build, you may be considering two or more options about how to proceed.  Which ever path is taken can sometimes prove wrong or not as efficient as the alternative one you dropped.  Which ever path you take can lead to more choices to make.  In my case I followed one path which led me via several branches, to the wrong conclusion literally, resulting in my faulty sim.  My selfconfidence over-rode the analytical part of my brain and in hind sight I can see where I went wrong......I hope!

So hands-on building works for me, well I enjoy it, even if it hasn’t worked yet. Someone suggested it’s the journey I enjoy, but I’m not sure I agree, I look forward to reaching my goal and not having to work with pieces of metal and wood that have been used many times.

Back in mid 1990’s, having spent more than ten years researching his life, I was writing my first book, a biography of Johann Bessler called, “Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?” I wrote it on an early Amstrad, a nightmare of utter slowness but it was incredibly popular and I thought it was just amazing at the time.  We played computer games on the ZX  Spectrum which was basic compared to a calculator today, Jetset Willy I remember fondly.

My point is I had to teach myself about computers, publishing and subsequently self publishing, the internet, print on demand and arrange radio and magazine interviews at a time when all of the above was just beginning.  Such information was hard to find, usually in the local library.  All this, while holding down my job at Rolls Royce Aero-engines, but although I’m getting older, I still have all my faculties, and I’m sure that after I’ve finally solved or stopped trying to solve Bessler’s wheel, I’ll take a more leisurely look at the sim software, and learn all about it.

I would understand if many people think I’m deluding myself because I believe I can still solve this puzzle and that’s fine, I have a number of tricks up my sleeve that I shall explain later, but for now I must press on and finish this wheel. I’m also still writing my book detailing all of the clues I have actually deciphered. I accept that there may be some scepticism about my interpretation, but my previous post about the pentagon hidden within the Apologia Poetica wheel certainly seems to have gained acceptance for the logical explanation even if not my interpretation of its meaning.

I like to busy and ever since I began writing my bio of Bessler I used to get up at 5 am to write for an hour or so before getting ready for work.  Unfortunately that habit of waking at 5am has never left me, so I still wake at 5 every morning, and have done so ever since.  Plenty of time for thinking!

JC

The True Story of Bessler’s Perpetual Motion Machine.

On  6th June, 1712, in Germany, Johann Bessler (also known by his pseudonym, Orffyreus) announced that after many years of failure, he had s...