Was it weights landing gently or a hard pounding from a four pound sledge hammer? Just because it was a four pound weight doesn't signify how hard it was slamming in the wheel, and a gentle sound is not enough to make noise throughout the whole castle no matter how many times a second it was occuring.Fischer von Erlach told us that the wheel turned at 26 RPM when unloaded. That is very roughly 2 seconds per turn. He told us that he could hear the sound of about eight weights landing gently on the side towards which the wheel turned. That works out at four sounds of weights landing every single second!
Wolff told us that the weights were about four pounds each and that conveniently for us translates to a four pound sledge hammer. We don't know how Bessler's weights acted but if they were mounted on a short lever, rod - or sledge hammer handle, then the wheel was receiving a pounding from four sledge hammers every second for almost two months. No wonder Bessler wanted to inspect his wheel after only two weeks; he didn't know if it might fall apart in another day or two!
A bit of deductive reasoning and simple math will tell you what would happen if the banging was loud enough to be heard throughout the whole castle.
192 sounds a minute.
11,520 sounds an hour.
276,480 sounds a day.
14,929,920 sounds for a full fifty four days. That's over fourteen million.
Lead weights, soft and easily deformed.
Wood, brittle.
Felt, don't make me laugh.
Spring to absorb the impact, perfect reason. But then no loud banging.
