Merseburg wheel part

[daxwc]

Quem rapidum motum ea pariter obtinuit, cum cista una cum sex integis lateribus muralibus ad 70lb incirca ponderans & quidem difficili 8 ulnis a perpendiculari recedenti, per fenestra procedenti & ad tectum elevato & inde in atrium aliquot orgiis dependulo funi aliquoties, quoties nempe desideravit fuit, annex & a machinae impetu in altum ad ipsum usque tectum eft elevata.

The rapid movement of the equally successful, with a box with six brick, entire hurled from siege, and even difficult at 70lb pondered about 8 fathoms perpendicular from leaving through the window and proceed to the roof and then elevated to the court for some orgy hanging rope several times, when indeed it was desired, the machine connected to the onset and to up roof it is high raised. DT pg 135

I google translated it and was surprised it was so far off the English translation provided. It is hard to make sense of it, but the “orgy of hanging rope� is there suggesting a block and tackle. All I can think of is the translator went to the picture to try to figure what was going on than to translate it.

[Oystein]

It may be that the Merseburg wheel was a "weaker" wheel, as this was his first attemt at a bi-directional wheel.

The same can`t be said about the Kassel wheel, which has no handle, and as we can read, the inspectors did stop it by the rim, (and which could raise a man by its momentum!:)

Kassel:
I then stopped the wheel with much difficulty, holding on to the circumference with both hands. An attempt to stop it suddenly would raise a man from the ground.

Merseburg:
The weight was lifted by means of a rope conducted through a window by means of a pulley.
(We don`t know for shure at the moment if this means just a "pulley-wheel" or a "reduction-pulley".

[jim_mich]

Latin to English, word by word, using a couple different translating websites:

http://mymemory.translated.net/t/Latin/English/opus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quidem

"Quem rapidum motum ea pariter obtinuit, cum cista una cum sex integis lateribus muralibus ad 70lb incirca ponderans & quidem difficili 8 ulnis a perpendiculari recedenti, per fenestra procedenti & ad tectum elevato & inde in atrium aliquot orgiis dependulo funi aliquoties, quoties nempe desideravit fuit, annex & a machinae impetu in altum ad ipsum usque tectum eft elevata."

Quem: Whom
rapidum: rapid
motum: move, movement
ea: is
pariter: equally, together, par
obtinuit: keep, maintain, restrain, hold
,
cum: with
cista: trunk, chest
una: together, one
cum: with, when, because, through
sex: six
integis: cover, protect
lateribus: side, flank
muralibus: wall, mural
ad: to
70lb: 70 pounds
incirca: about, approximately
ponderans: weighing, pondering
&
quidem: indeed
difficili: difficult
8: eight
ulnis: elbow, arm, cubit
a: a
perpendiculari: perpendicular
recedenti: receding, retreating
,
per: by
fenestra: window
procedenti: proceed
&
ad: to
tectum: roof, ceiling
elevato: rise, lift up
&
inde: pass, move
in: in, inwards, into
atrium: room, inner court yard
aliquot: several, some, a few
orgiis: mysteries, secret rites, origin
dependulo: hang, depend
funi: several
aliquoties: times
,
quoties: as often
nempe: namely, to be sure
desideravit: desired
fuit: was
,
annex: addition
&
a: a
machinae: machine
impetu: impetus, an attack, a rushing upon, impel
in: in, inwards, into
altum: the deep, the sea
ad: to
ipsum: itself
usque: continuously, without a break
tectum: roof, ceiling
eft: ?? (wrong word?)
elevata: raise, elevated
.

I make no guarantee of accuracy.

Edit, putting it all together:

Whose rapid movement is together maintained, with chest together with six wall covering bricks to 70_pounds approximately weighing indeed difficult eight arm_lengths a perpendicular retreating, by window proceed to roof lift_up pass into inner court_yard several perform_ritual drop several times, as_often to_be_sure was additionally desired, a machine impel in the_depth to itself without_a_break roof (was?) elevated.

2nd Edit: fixed bold formatting.

[jim_mich]

'orgy' means a ritual. The 'ritual' of lifting and dropping of the box of bricks was performed several times, as often as desired.

[daxwc]

orgiis dependulo funi

orgiis: orgy, mysteries, orgies, revel, orgies of
dependulo: hanging, hanging down
funi: rope

orgiis dependulo funi = hanging orgies of rope Google translator

http://www.stars21.com/translator/latin_to_english.html
orgi.is N 2 4 LOC P N
orgi.is N 2 4 DAT P N
orgi.is N 2 4 ABL P N
orgium, orgi(i) N N [XXXCX]
secret rites (of Bacchus) (pl.), mysteries; orgies;

dependul.o ADJ 1 1 DAT S M POS
dependul.o ADJ 1 1 DAT S N POS
dependul.o ADJ 1 1 ABL S M POS
dependul.o ADJ 1 1 ABL S N POS
dependulus, dependula, dependulum ADJ [XXXFO] veryrare
hanging down (from);

fun.i N 3 3 LOC S M Early
fun.i N 3 3 DAT S M
fun.i N 3 3 ABL S M
funis, funis N M [XXXCX]
rope; line, cord, sheet, cable; measuring-line/rope, lot (Plater);

orgiis dependulo funi = ORGIES HANGING DOWN ROPE

http://www.onehourtranslation.com/free- ... ndulo+funi


orgiis dependulo funi = HANGING orgy rope

All hindges on the word orgiis, most places translate it as orgy; no idea what the German side says.

[jim_mich]

The original early meaning of an 'orgy' was secret gatherings where people performed rituals. In the context of Bessler's wheel the witnesses performed the 'ritual' of the wheel raising and lowering the chest of bricks. In our modern language 'orgy' has a slightly different meaning than it did 300 years ago. The word 'ritual' has a meaning today that is more like 'orgy' of 300 years ago.

[ovyyus]

It seems that understanding the true meaning of Wolff's 300 year old words is proving more difficult than expected. That being the case, for the time being at least, then what about the depicted axle handle? It seems reasonable that this axle handle might be used for stopping a wheel of low power, but it seems like an unworkable attachment at wheel power levels approaching those that Jim proposes. How might this apparent dilemma be resolved?

[eccentrically1]

One way would be to decrease the weight of the entire wheel, since the workman had to brake the bricks and the wheel as a system with the handle. In the neighborhood of a man's weight, 150 to 175 lbs. which would lift him off the ground at the rim, but still be in common sense range for a brake near the axis. Since we don't know what was inside other than fourish pound weights, I lean towards a light framed wheel structure. That also supports the reason the weights were removed. Delicate.

[jim_mich]

Bill's wheel output values are so weak at to be pathetic. There is no way that Bill's weak rotational torque could ever cause such a big 11 to 12 foot wheel to accelerate up to speed and also lift the box of bricks.

One disadvantage we have with attempting to calculate wheel output is that we do not know how heavy the wheel was. We can guess at the wheel weight by making educated guesses at to how it was constructed. But these will still be only guesses.

Lifting any weight requires two categories of force. The first force must be strong enough to accelerate the weight to start it moving at whatever speed it is being lifted. The second force is that which is required to maintain the motion against gravity.

Both forces are rather easy to calculate, if we don't inject such imaginary thinking as block and tackle pulley reductions.

There is one thing that I've sometimes wondered about. There was no clutch on the wheel to start and stop the pulling of the rope. So was the wheel started with the rope tight and then the wheel accelerated up to speed while lifting the 70 lbs of bricks? Or was enough slack left in the rope to let the wheel get started first, and then the wheel lifted the bricks? And what happened as the bricks reached the second floor window? Was the wheel then stopped from turning?

The most probable method was either the capstan method which I discussed eight years ago or maybe the wheel was started with the load attached and then stopped when the weight box reached the top.

[daxwc]

23. Wooden lever to bring machine to rest.

The lever is 5 times smaller than the diameter of the wheel.
Third wheel – Merseburg

Diameter = was 12 feet or 144�
Lever was 28.8� /2 = 14.4� leverage from center of axle.
So two handles of 11� at a speed of 40 rpm.

Considering you have to stop the momentum of the whole 12 ft. wheel; but if it could lift 70lbs from the axle with no mechanical advantage, then I don’t see stopping it cold dead by hand; maybe they slapped it with their hand slowing it till they stopped it. Laden it would be easy to stop; just without the load it would be tricky.

That said, there is a big unknown because the wheel never slows or is burdened by the load. Why is that? What would cause that?

[rasselasss]

With one rev.of turning the wheel started lifting the 70lb weight .to a height of 14 feet (bit of rope slack), that shows torque,yet it could be stopped by a man,there is something cockeyed somewhere in this description ...surely this lends credence to a multiplication of pulleys .With torque as described i can't see a man stopping it without difficulty.....if i was describing the working of this device ,to show the torque,i would include the struggle of trying to stop it, but correct me if i'm wrong ,there is no big deal made of it.

[eccentrically1]

If most of the mass of the wheel was concentrated at the rim, it had a mechanical advantage even without a block and tackle.

[jim_mich]

Learn about a peritrochium, wheel and axle. It was a common force multiplying device used 300 years ago. Bessler's Merseburg wheel used a 6 inch axle diameter rotated by a huge 11 foot wheel, which produced an 22 to 1 reduction ratio. The 70 pounds of bricks acting on the axle caused only 3.182 pounds of rotational torque force at the rim. The peritrochium wheel was used extensively to move heavy things using light force. But it worked slowly.

Rotating the wheel alone during start-up would have required more force than the lifting of the bricks. This is why Bessler's enemy (don't remember which one, probably Wagner) accused Bessler's wheel of lifting the box of brick due to flywheel coasting effect of an initial strong push. And this is why Gravesande's description of the wheel starting with only a very small two finger initial push and then speeding up is important. It proves the wheel was not simply a big flywheel.

[eccentrically1]

Do you mean 3.182 lbs. at the axle?

[jim_mich]

No. I mean at the rim. The wheel acts like a perpetual lever. The axle radius is 3 inches. The wheel radius is about 66 inches. So 66_inches / 3_inches is a leverage advantage of 22. And 70 lbs ÷ 22 = 3.182 lbs of force needed at the rim to leverage 70 lbs of weight pulling on rope on the axle.