Introduction

 This website deals with the invention of Johann Bessler (1680-1745), born in the Saxon town of Zittau (or its immediate vicinity). In historical documents, the name is “Beßler”. Since the “ß” is not permitted as part of a domain name and the inventor is also known abroad only as “Bessler”, the author uses only this spelling. Anyone who has already informed himself elsewhere has certainly already encountered the name “Orffyreus”. This is Bessler's pen name, with which he allowed himself to be addressed during almost his entire life and which also appears in many documents, letters, documents, etc. In the biography this will be discussed briefly. 

Bessler's wheel was a machine that was able to do work for an unlimited period without a visible supply of energy. According to the usage of the language at that time, it was a “perpetuum mobile”. Physics has now redefined this term, because it wants it only to be applied to closed systems. Due to the principle of energy conservation, this ensures that Perpetua Mobilia cannot function. So why should we look at this issue? 

It is said by witnesses that Bessler's wheel was driven by weights and thus by earth's gravity. It therefore did not generate any energy itself, but it was supplied to it from the outside. Because it turned the earth's attraction into a rotary motion, it might have been called a gravitation converter from the beginning and the designation “perpetuum mobile” should have been avoided. At that time, however, there were no such reservations. According to today's definition, it is in any case factually incorrect to speak of a “perpetuum mobile” by the participation of gravity as a foreign system. As far as the term is used on this website, it is therefore regularly placed in quotation marks. Nevertheless, school physics insists that Bessler's wheel never worked and refers us to natural laws. However, a scientifically sustainable law that excludes gravity as a supplier of energy for a rotating wheel does not really exist. The physicists obviously mean the traditional experience of earlier centuries, according to which, (Bessler presumably excluded), all known attempts to realize a gravitation-driven wheel  have failed.

Thus, the conviction gradually became entrenched that nature would not allow such a drive system. In the end, this developed into a subjective certainty that promoted this supposed fact to a “law”. (A law that you will not find in any serious textbook of physics.) 

This attitude is understandable, but it is not based on analytically gained knowledge. To have not yet perceived a thing is not proof of its non-existence. Nevertheless, the impossibility of a wheel driven by gravity alone is taught as an irrefutable given in schools and thus internalized from childhood years. However, closer inspection makes it clear that this is only a school of thought, which in its effect could also be described as indoctrination. It affects people in such a way that most are not even ready for a non-binding discussion of the subject. In this way, the physicists know the vast majority of society behind them. With regard to Bessler's wheel, they are consequently not deterred by a long list of persons who have seen this invention in function. If the wheel actually turned itself, in it must have been a fraud*. 

* The term “fraud” is not to be taken literally here. Regardless of a possible criminal liability (then as it is today), the word is popularly synonymous with fraud of all kinds and is therefore used on this website in this fashion.

If man does not understand something, even though he is convinced to already know everything about it, he declares the people involved to be crazy, or he accuses them of fraud and sidelines them. This prevents him from having to doubt his mind and is therefore a practical universal solution. This behavior, which serves self-protection, is as old as humanity and often manifests itself today in all kinds of conspiracy theories. However, since the arguing person is often not at all sure of the correctness of his point of view, he is looking for allies. He does this by showering the ununderstood thing and the associated persons with derision and thus tries to direct fellowmen in a favourable direction from the beginning. The article “ Was Bessler a fraudster?” sheds light on this mechanism. 

Bessler is largely unknown in his home country Germany. There is almost no younger German-language literature concerning him, and if his name is mentioned anywhere, then often in a negative context. From this it can be concluded that Bessler is regarded by the historians in this country as a charlatan and is ignored. That this is the case, for example, is seen in the answer of the head of the “Handschriftenabteilung Bereichsbibliothek Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel der Universitätsbibliothek Kassel”, Dr. Konrad Wiedemann. At the request of the author on 20.4.2006, he announced that his collection of historical Bessler documents contained a detailed description of the “Doings and Dealings of the fraudster Johann Ernst Elias Bessler”. 

It is true that Bessler was repeatedly confronted with accusations of fraud during his lifetime because it was not accepted, that he had actually succeeded in making gravity accessible as an energy source. However, since this thing did not shake the view of the world at that time, he was spared a similar fate, which had brought others before an Inquisition court in the sphere of influence of the Catholic Church because of such things. As late as 1633, such was done with Galileo. Nevertheless, Bessler was imprisoned for a short time because of his wheel, but was released soon. 

Many considered his spinning wheel a juggler trick, as he did not reveal how it worked. (He did this out of economic calculation, because he wanted to turn the invention into money.) However, there were two expert commissions and other renowned personalities who examined the wheel, experimented with it and definitely ruled out a swindle. Above all, the mathematician Gottfried Leibniz. The Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Cassel, as the supreme sovereign, was granted an insight into the inner mechanism of the wheel. He immediately understood the principle and was surprised that no one had yet come up with this solution. In the Kassel Jagdschloss Weißenstein, Bessler's invention easily completed a 54-day endurance run. However, what's not allowed, just cannot be - this test was dismissed years later as a cleverly arranged fraud. The scoffers still do not tire of quoting Bessler's vengeful maids as a witness. (See also the remarks in the next two paragraphs.) However, Bessler was never convicted of any illegal act. Since the assumption of innocence also applies posthumously in the rule of law, one should therefore, when in doubt, perhaps believe in the good in man . 

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In principle, historians have no other sources and data  for their assessments than any other citizen. Sometimes it simply depends on coincidences on how their views about certain historical events develop. A single historian sometimes arbitrarily formulates an opinion, and his later professional colleagues take it on without once again entering into an examination of things. In the case of Bessler, this may have been the Kassel librarian Friedrich Wilhelm Strieder. In the period from 1781 to 1815, he published a total of 15 volumes of his “Basic History of A Hessian Scholar and Writer History” and dealt with Bessler, among other things. Most contemporary historians draw upon his opinion, including the head of the Kassel manuscript department mentioned above. Strieder focused on the criminal complaint made in 1727 by Bessler's former maid as an opportunity to leave a damning judgment about this man to posterity. He referred to this only “witness” who obviously wanted to take revenge after her recent dismissal, and who had already been in prison for infanticide and had entangled herself in contradictions during her police interrogation (document is still available for reading). He gave preference to her testimony over the findings made by renowned experts and scientists.

In rescue of Strieder's honour, one could point to the fact that he was not an engineer and therefore could not really assess the facts concerning the wheel. More seriously, later reviews of his publications led to the realization that he did not always stick to the truth. Thus he has arbitrarily changed times, presented individual facts incorrectly and occasionally also referred to sources that did not exist at all. Contemporaries describe Strieder as a self-opinionated neurotic. Concerning Bessler, he succumbed to the sensation of a supposedly revealed crime over cool expertise and, all in all, conveys towards the reader the kind of journalism that characterizes our tabloid press today. The details of the affair with the maid, which also led to the already mentioned arrest of Bessler, can be found in the biography. In addition, the author analytically explains in the article “The Maid's Lie” why the indicated fact is most likely to be pure fiction. 

Friedrich Bülau (1805-1859) based his work on Strieder's. He was a professor of political science at the University of Leipzig and was also active as a hobby historian and author of a collection “Secret Stories and Enigmatic People”. Bessler's life path was put to paper by him. From the very beginning, the professor drew the picture of a charlatan, but did not present valid evidence for it, but mostly drew on speculation. His “stories” have the character of narratives and cannot be regarded as a scientific preparation of historical facts. The author has therefore deliberately adopted nothing from Bülau. 

Since Strieder and Bülau are hardly known abroad, historians have a more differentiated view of things there. For example, Bessler enjoys a certain popularity in England, the Benelux countries and Denmark. There are English-language books and websites that deal with him in detail. They draw in some detail the story of a man who had succeeded in making gravity usable for the performance of work by inventing a weight-driven wheel that was constantly spinning. 

England and his famous physicist, mathematician and philosopher Isaac Newton play a notable role in Bessler's life story. Newton, who who was a contemporary of Bessler, dealt, among other things, with the phenomena of gravity, formulated the laws of its effect and was understandably interested in Bessler's invention. Likewise the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Details can be found in the biography and in the article about contemporary witnesses. 

As a prophet who, with looking back, is not regarded in his own country, Bessler shared the fate of many of his inventor colleagues. Persecuted by the envious with resentment during his lifetime, his invention never made him rich. The fact that he kept his mechanism secret never silenced the fraud rumours. More serious, however, was that posterity could not benefit from his invention. Bessler took his secret to the grave. 

For more than 300 years, tinkerers have been trying to reinvent the Bessler's wheel, but have so far been unsuccessful. The harsh reality of an experimental review of many great ideas was always sobering for the hobby inventors and often led them to give up after a certain time. Perhaps success is in perseverance. Bessler had been researching for ten years until he finally achieved his breakthrough. 

From today's perspective, the rediscovery of the operating principle would shake up some data, which has been, so far, considered irrefutable, but the benefit of such a wheel would be modest because the efficiency of the Bessler wheel was low. In a separate article on this topic, this issue is examined in more detail. One has to free oneself from the idea of being able to generate electricity on a large scale with such a wheel. 

Even if the author had to research extensively for the design of this website, he did not have the ambition to make a scientific work out of it. Information on the primary and secondary sources was deliberately omitted. This is especially because many rumours were found during my investigations, the origin of which is unclear and whose compatibility with reality could not be verified. As far as they have been published here, they serve only an enrichment of the issue, but they must be considered with reservations. The vast majority of the information comes from the writings preserved in the Kassel University Library. Anyone who seriously wants to deal with Bessler is advised to take a look there.

The websites www.besslerrad.de, www.besslerrad.ch and www.besslerrad.com are solely concerned with possible energy production from gravity. In the various contributions, only the conditions are examined that Bessler was subject to at the beginning of the 18th century. Realization of a gravitational drive for which modern materials or machines would be necessary are excluded as well as the discussion of other natural phenomena. In this way, the readers are made familiar with Bessler's invention in such a way that they mentally might allow for its functionality. The aim is to create a basis for those among them that are interested in technical experimenting and looking for a solution in newer times. The more people do this, the greater the probability of a rediscovery of Bessler's functional principle. Should this happen, it would rehabilitate the reputation of Bessler, and it would be a small sensation. 

Human-formulated laws of nature are the result of observations. I repeat, it is not a scientifically sustainable proof, but a (lightweight) claim that something is impossible just because it has not been observed so far. In the case of Bessler's wheel, this has been claimed for 300 years, although the alleged law cannot be seriously expressed in words. However, a law essentially includes its precise formulation. Perhaps the findings made in the past have only been misinterpreted. In any case, nature does not have to adapt to man-made rules. Because a machine that has demonstrated its functionality cannot be in contradiction with the laws of nature, an inventor has good cards if he is allowed to say in the end: “Quod erat demonstrandum!”. * 

* Quote of the Greek mathematician Euclid, 300 B.C.: “Thus it is proved!”