Posted by grim (206.162.192.40) on June 03, 2003 at 18:54:32:
In Reply to: Re: Couple more for John C. posted by John Collins on June 03, 2003 at 03:56:30:
: OK - first of all he was forced to leave Karl's employ by some fairly wicked machinations by his maid, his mistress and some others for internal political reasons. Then he was accused of cheating. Then he was released without further charge. He was given five years salary and a house. The accusations of cheating stuck and he was unable to continue to try to sell his wheel, so he offered a number of other machine which all obviously depended on his wheel being the driving force - i.e. continuous fountains, continuous carillons; a submarine etc. He attempted to obtain work in a number of different ways such as designing and offering to build a morrocco-leather factory; a marble slab making factory etc. Subsequently he offered to design and build a windmill which did not depend on wind direction - a horizontal one. This was accepted and I have seen the remains (see the photo on my web site)
: His wife died in 1726 before he was moved out. But in any case she did not know the secret of the wheel's construction - not even his brother Gottfried, who helped him build it, knew. The maid did not know although she may have tried to discover it and spread some malicious rumours about it.
: He did remarry and had another child but they were left with nothing but a small dismantled wheel and a number of books and scientific instruments.
: JC
Sounds like his life would make a great soap opera. "As The Wheel Turns"?