The Clues...

[murilo]

Dear colleague Grimer!!!
I hope you do fine as I see you are!
Please, be so kind to tell me what product, or medicine, are you using on your front!
Please?!?!
(urgently!)
Thanx and best regards!
M. (the bald!)

[Jon J Hutton]

I heard someone say that the bearing that bessler used for his wheel to rotate on was only 1/4" this cant be correct. Does anyone know?

[jim_mich]

See this post.

At the moment it can lift a weight of sixty pounds, but to achieve this the pulley had to be reduced more than four times, making the lifting quite slow. The diameter of the wheel is about twelve feet, and as well, the bearing was quite thin, about one quarter of an inch and only a sixth of its length was subject to friction.

Through the centre of this wheel or drum runs an axle of about six inches diameter, terminated at both ends by iron bearings of about three-quarters of an inch diameter upon which the whole thing turns.

Note that the wheel was built much like wagon wheels of that era. The axle was built like a long thin wooden barrel. At each end there was a small iron axle pin sticking out. This iron pin rested in a metal bearing pocket or hole.

[Jon J Hutton]

Thanks Jim,

I am still having a hard time visualizing this bearing. Do I understand you to mean then that the entire wooden shaft rested on a 1/4 inch metal rod, as if he drilled a 5/32nds hole through the 6 or 4 foot axel, and ran a rod through it greased it up and set it spinning for 54 days.

The wheels weight was iirc someone said was around 200 pounds or more, but that person could be mistaken. I remember one account said that bessler easily moved the wheel from one place to another under inspection...so it could of weighed much less.

If it revolved 26 rpm for 54 days that is that would be 2021760 revs. under a load of 200 pounds....some thing does not sound right, by today standards. I know I must be mistaken because too many people have considered this.

[jim_mich]

The axle was like a long skinny wood barrel. On the end of the wood barrel axle was a 1/4 inch or 3/4 inch diameter iron pin that was either screwed or hammered into the wood axle. This iron axle pin stuck out a few inches from the wood axle. It rested in a metal bearing socket or pocket.

Greased and polished metal riding on metal makes a very good bearing setup. Friction is very similar to ball bearings. When the wheel rotates the grease melts and forms a very thin film of oil between the two metal surfaces, which reduces the friction to near zero.

I think either Bill or Stewart posted a few years ago a very good drawing showing the bearing setup.

[eccentrically1]

http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/download.php?id=1929

[jim_mich]

Thanks, eccentrically1, it was Stewart' post...

[eccentrically1]

You're welcome , you linked to it in another thread I remembered. The thread the original rendering is from (2005?) gets into the speculation of the axle's construction, etc.

[Jon J Hutton]

Thanks for the post....there were some vey skilled blacksmiths back then. Imagine what bessler could of done and done faster if he had access to modern equipment.

[nebollinger]

I am new to this forum but not the Bessler wheel so I am focusing on the clues to the wheel. The one that stands out is the early wheel that turned only one way had to be tied or it would just start turning. This means that it was unbalanced right off. In all of my wheel attempts I define the real problem as the reset - we can embody something to turn but then how do we reset that piece so it can repeat the motion? I suspect the clued that ties to the reset is the weights were in pairs. The other problem with my attempts was bottom heavy Center of Gravity CG. When a weight shifts to cause motion it usually causes a lower CG and thus the inevitable run-down and stop. So how can one cause motion and not get bottom heavy? I thought inertia might do that. So picture the rollers in a roller bearing such that
only one end is dropped and thus causing inertia and then it is reset by
going back to its origin for another drop. It seems to me this might not
create the bottom heavy problem.

I am enjoying the many enlightening discussions. My claim to fame is my pendulum that swings higher than its dropped point from magnets that are placed along the way. I have a magnet addiction and we will have overunity when we can use a small force to release a larger force.

Norman

[Timothy]

In all of my wheel attempts I define the real problem as the reset - we can embody something to turn but then how do we reset that piece so it can repeat the motion?

This may not make sense to many, but I would advise concentrating on the fall side rather than the reset side. If the fall side is sufficient, the reset will take care of itself.

In concentrating on the reset side you are "straining at the oars." (I would explain the quote, but that might be construed as "thumping")

[Jon J Hutton]

welcome to the forum nebolinger

[Richard]

Timothy Post

Quote:
In all of my wheel attempts I define the real problem as the reset - we can embody something to turn but then how do we reset that piece so it can repeat the motion?


This may not make sense to many, but I would advise concentrating on the fall side rather than the reset side. If the fall side is sufficient, the reset will take care of itself.

In concentrating on the reset side you are "straining at the oars." (I would explain the quote, but that might be construed as "thumping")

Get rid of the reset altogether...just spread the ascending load out longitudinally and let it fall back out on the descending side

richard

[daanopperman]

Thanks Jim,

I am still having a hard time visualizing this bearing. Do I understand you to mean then that the entire wooden shaft rested on a 1/4 inch metal rod, as if he drilled a 5/32nds hole through the 6 or 4 foot axel, and ran a rod through it greased it up and set it spinning for 54 days.

The wheels weight was iirc someone said was around 200 pounds or more, but that person could be mistaken. I remember one account said that bessler easily moved the wheel from one place to another under inspection...so it could of weighed much less.

If it revolved 26 rpm for 54 days that is that would be 2021760 revs. under a load of 200 pounds....some thing does not sound right, by today standards. I know I must be mistaken because too many people have considered this.

Jon J Hutton

It is quite easy to imagine a different bearing setup that was the fore runner of ball bearings , take a piece of tubing , a shaft , with 6 short round bars , say a 1/4 inch long and arrange them around the shaft inside the tubing , the tubing becomes the outer race of the bearing and the shaft becomes the inner race but without a ball race , the shaft can now be 3/4 but the bearing width 1/4 inch , it would be open to inspection and can carry a really useful load like you mentioned . If the shaft was 3'4 in in dia the 1/4 in long round bars would be 3/4 in in dia and 6 of them will fit snug around the shaft .

[jim_mich]

What you describe is a roller bearing