It Would Be More Noble To Clear J. Bessler's Name, than trying to solely profit

[rks1878]

Great! Don't be "out".

Soon enough, everyonewill want to be my friend.

"Gettin cards and letters from people I don't even know.." as sung by Glen Campbell

[rks1878]

Yes

I think I'm 90% there.....

Have 8 out of 12 weights hooked up to move, and the device accelerates through all of them.

Spring(s). This is the key. It /they have to be VERY taught at certain times and very relaxed at others.

Karl and JEEB said that they were having "problems" with the wheel in the castle room getting it going right. "It needed adjustment".

It's not just all solid connections, turn it loose and it goes. The spring(s) are the interface between the weights and the axle.

I believe it was the spring(s) they were talking abourt here.

[SeaWasp]

Go Robert!

[michael_vanston]

Karl and JEEB said that they were having "problems" with the wheel in the castle room getting it going right. "It needed adjustment"

Can someone help me out here. I thought the only time Bessler had a problem with his designs was when he changed from a one direction wheel to a dual direction wheel. This wheel built in Merseburg was the only one I can see he had problems with.The mechanism needed to be adjusted. (Pg. 281 AP)

I cannot find any record of him having problems with his design in the castle. Nor can I find any information to say that Karl gave Bessler a helping hand in the construction of the wheel.

Could someone please tell me where I have missed this.

Michael

[rks1878]

Michael,

I also took JEEB over a year to build this one. It must have been difficult getting the spring(s) just right.

I can imagine that the bolt JEEB let people turn to regulate the wheel, was adjusting the tension on the spring.

[bluesgtr44]

Rob...I have all three books by J. Collins and I have not seen this anywhere. Where did you get this information?


Steve

[michael_vanston]

Robert,

Where are you getting your information from? It seems quite different to what I am reading. According to what I have read the bolts were used as restraining bolts on his one direction wheels (pg.28-29 PM-AAMS) screwed in and out of the axle. And not used in his dual direction wheels.(pg.55 PM-AAMS)

Can you please tell us what your source is.

Michael

Steve, you snuck in while I was typing this!

[Michael]

It is different michael and Steve. Why do people do this, throw up interpretations without saying this is my interpretation? Robert it causes an injustice to people that might not have any other information besides the web.

[AgingYoung]

Robert,

Remember when we were fishing a while back and I let you keep the catch!? Don't forget me now, buddy! We go back a long way! :)

In all seriousness I wish you the best. I'm loving the drama.

Gene

[bluesgtr44]

Okay...page 275 of AP...

"The bolts which regulated the motion were screwed into and out of the axle by many people, for I allowed all my friends to operate it."

I do remember seeing this before and I guess it slipped my mind because of the interpretation. I had kind of pictured these bolts as being screwed into the axles at the bearings and might have influenced a friction factor or some other factor to regulate the speed of the wheel.

I cannot find any reference to the Kassel incident...yet.


Steve

[rks1878]

The spring material I've been using was left over from a previous attempt this past summer. It is too weak, being about the same as a screen door spring, but it was good enough to show the method works.
Will be ordering stiffer spring material tomorrow. The exercises today showed what characteristics are required....
The one I've chosen is 1 in. dia. X _ X _.

So we must wait now.

[rlortie]

Robert,

And tension just as the spring will grow with your X_X_ so do not wait to long. :-)

Ralph

[Jonathan]

I still think it was a friction-bolt. As usual I got nothing from my own translation let's see what you guys can make of it:

Die Korben in die Welle waren
Von vielen aus – und eingeschraubt,
(Denn allen Freunden warÂ’s erlaubt).
Apologia Poetica, pg 62, John Collins ©2004

[ken_behrendt]

Jonathan...

Maybe the passage refers to a brake shoe or band that was pressed against the wheel's axle when a bolt or jack screw was tightened? This is not the best way to regulate the rotational speed of an axle because there is constant wear and heat production.

ken

[Stewart]

I still think it was a friction-bolt. As usual I got nothing from my own translation let's see what you guys can make of it:

I think I can help you with this, and hopefully we can finally put this one to bed!

Note: The wheel being described by Bessler in the paragraph in question is his second wheel - the uni-directional Draschwitz wheel.

Here's the original text from Apologia Poetica (part 1, chapter 26, page 47):

Ich wohnte sicher und alleine/
Und machte ein fünff-Ellige Rad/
Welchs man bald frey gesehen hat
Zwischen zwey schmalen Brettgen fahren/
Die Corben in die Welle waren
Von vielen auß- und eingeschraubt/
(Denn allen Freunden wars erlaubt.)

Here I've changed some of the old words to their more modern equivalents (you'll have better luck with this version when running it through an online translator):

Ich wohnte sicher und alleine,
Und machte ein fünf-Ellige Rad/
Welches man bald frei gesehen hat
Zwischen zwei schmalen Brettchen fahren/
Die Korben in die Welle waren
Von vielen auß- und eingeschraubt/
(Denn allen Freunden war es erlaubt.)

Here's my translation:

I lived secure and alone,
and made a five ell wheel,
which one soon freely saw
driving/turning between two narrow little boards,
the cranks* in the axle were
screwed out and in by many,
(because [for] all friends it was permitted.)

*The key to understanding exactly what Bessler is talking about here is in the word 'Corben' (meaning: curve/cam/crank). He uses the same word in the legend for the Merseburg wheel engraving in Grundlicher Bericht (GB):

10. Die Corben selbst, oder Stiffte, so in die Welle eingeschraubt,
10. The cranks themselves, or pivots, screwed into the axle,

Check out my topic in community buzz where I have given a full translation of the whole legend (there is also a picture of the GB wheel engraving, but you could also look at the drawings section of the besslerwheel.com site):
http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=895

So, Bessler is saying that he allowed friends to screw the cranks in and out. I think this was so that they could see for themselves that there was no connection between the boards/bearings and the pivots/cranks, rather than for any speed regulation reason. However, as the pivots were tapered, screwing them in tighter would probably have the effect of causing more friction between the pivots and the bearings and so slow the wheel down, but as there is no mention of their use to regulate the motion in this manner, it seems unlikely that was what his friends were doing with them. We know from the GB wheel description that pendulums could be attached to the cranks to regulate the motion.

All the best,
Stewart

P.S. I'm not visiting besslerwheel.com much at the moment as I'm very busy working on a Bessler book and website as well as my own wheel constructions. If you have any questions for me or need help with translations etc, then please pm or email me and you'll probably get a faster response.