Energy Efficiency

After intensive study of the history of the Bessler wheel, it becomes clear that this invention from the 18th century would be of no interest for electricity generation due to its low efficiency as compared to the current state of technology. The wheel that Bessler publicly demonstrated in Merseburg in 1715 had reached a level of development that was no longer improved later. It had a diameter of 3.50 meters and generated a calculated power of around 60 watts. This emerges from the data that can be found in "Known Details".

Note:
Actually, we cannot speak of “efficiency” because we are comparing the energy input with the usable output. In the Bessler wheel, energy was supplied by gravity. It is therefore perhaps better to speak of the ratio of mechanical effort to gain.

Low output means that the economic use of a gravity wheel would have no future. This statement is corroborated by Bessler's written statement that there is only one way to arrange and move masses in a wheel in such a way that gravity alone causes it to rotate. Even today's engineering skills couldn't change that. Although it could reduce friction by using ball or roller bearings, it would not significantly increase output. This is due to the fact that a lever extension only has a positive effect on one side of the wheel. After passing through the bottom dead center, the rotational movement is slowed down again.

The power delivered by a gravity wheel can be boosted by increasing its diameter and/or using heavier weights. However, compared to the diameter of the rotor blades of wind turbines with an output of several megawatts, the gravity wheel would be hopelessly inferior. With a diameter of 140 meters (comparable to the “London Eye” Ferris wheel) and weights of 80 kilograms each, in purely mathematical terms you would get 100 kilowatts of power. This is approximately the value that energy suppliers (electricity) provide upon request for a single two-family house.

Alternatively, the output could be increased by making the gravity wheel longer rather than higher. Many levels of effective mechanical parts could be mounted on a common shaft so that their performances would be added together. The Merseburg wheel with a reported thickness of 30 centimeters, if increased to a length of 30 meters, would have an output of approximately 6 kilowatts. What an effort for so little performance!

Amateur inventors who tinker with Bessler's secret and, if they were successful, dream of indescribable wealth are deluding themselves. Although the rediscovered principle could be registered as a patent (against initial resistance), there would probably be no one willing to buy it. Anyone who makes a sober cost-benefit calculation knows that there is no money to be made with it. Because of the considerable dimensions and the comparatively low power output, only idealists would be interested in such a power unit.

The author is aware that this situation may be sobering and also may deter some inventors from further experimentation. Nevertheless, he would like to encourage those who only care “about the cause” not to let up in their efforts. Bessler deserves to be rehabilitated and find a proper place in the history books. Revealing a truth always has an ideal value, even without economic benefit. This particularly affects school physics, which to this day cannot scientifically refute the functionality of a gravity-driven wheel, but still denies it and indoctrinates *) people with untrue facts from an early age. Every qualified physicist knows the sentence: “What cannot be refuted is a fact”. Contrary to popular belief, the non-existence of a thing or circumstance can be proven. But that's exactly what school physics can't do with Bessler's wheel.

*) Definition in Wikipedia (translated from German to English):
Indoctrination (Latin doctrina 'instruction') is a particularly vehement instruction that does not allow any contradiction or discussion. This happens through targeted manipulation of people through controlled selection of information in order to enforce ideological intentions or eliminate criticism.