DrWhat,DrWhat wrote:Stewart wrote:Yes, he clearly describes the weights as overbalancing weights, and yet also says how important they are - "...these weights themselves are the perpetuum mobile, or essential and constituent parts of it,...". I know we often talk here of the wheel having an overbalance system and perhaps a secondary "prime mover" system, but this description makes me think there is less of a distinction between the two. It seems from this description that the overbalance (gravity) aspect is considered by Bessler to be vital to the operation of the machine, rather than just a simple way to turn a wheel using a totally separate energy source. It's also interesting that he says the weights receive their power and impetus from the "universal motion", i.e. a single weight receives its power/impetus from the motion of all the weights combined or the motion of the whole machine. Anyway, I've got some more thoughts on this text, but I'll wait until I've finished the Latin translation and then talk about it in more detail perhaps in another topic.Fletcher wrote:Bessler talks about the weights being the essential & constituent parts which must endlessly exercise their their power & impetus, received from a motion - as long as they remain outside the center of gravity, that is !
Any OOB wheel will have power & impetus as long as something lifts & repositions the weights each cycle to create torque.
Daxwc - you gave three quotes where Bessler talks about calculation. In the second one where you've quoted "tremendous amount of calculation", Bessler actually says "speculation". Here's my draft translation of that part (AP, Part I, Chapter LIV [54], Pages 116-117):
For when I will publicise,
one will soon hear among the ignorant people:
You people behold the true work,
there is indeed not much art to it. &c.
Be quiet you blockhead stop your babbling,
and bear no displeasure/dislike,
I have speculated with might,
before I even conceived such a work,
and refined [it] for some time,
before I devised it so simply;
indeed now it is in such a state,
that a bad craftsmaster's hand
will without any great brain-racking
weld/put the things together,
and (before one knows it,)
the construction of the work can have happened;
also in doing so nothing at all
will feel too elaborate to calculate,
besides, if also the preponderance*
will not be equal everywhere,
(so that in many places one may count
many an ounce [here], that may lack there,)
the work will still retain its motion,
and mind not a jot:
all this seemed best to me;
you master craftsmen, honourable people
will, God willing, in the meantime
go to work with more pleasure. &c.
*Uberwucht = preponderance / overweight / excess (of) weight / overbalance
Once again Bessler says 'Uberwucht' in reference to his overbalancing-weights and says they don't all need to be exactly equal.
For the last quote see the following post:
http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewt ... 6028#46028
Stewart
Thank you so very much for your post.
If a person can fold a piece of string in half, they would know enough to build Bessler's wheel. This is, if I have solved his mechanics.
And yes, the balance is not solely on one weight but weights working together. His exact design may be difficult to replicate.
It is all aboiut relationships and math can say them so sweetly.
It may be that when he referred to art, it is both in the math and the design. His wheel would have been poetry in motion.
Of course, I have been much chided for talking nothing but math. In time, it can show the sweetest melodies :-)
@Steve,
Merucury would be fluid, at the same time it's density might have been something he could work with. What would need to be researched is the availability of what material at what price in Bessler's time.
And because of it's density, it would have allowed for a more compact design.
And if you know me, I always thought water.
edited to add; @DrWhat, you just saved me $60 US. I was going to buy a scale to weigh all parts for obvious reasons. I do have tooling on order.
One set of weights working together will demonstrate everything. It could take 2 weeks.