Fletcher: “Of course it was thoroughly denounced at the Oct tests a few months later—but as I said, the maid was still telling the same story years later. If G. and B. had gotten to her, even after it was completely debunked, then I wonder what their or anybody's motivation to stick with that storyline was?”
The answer could be survival for the maid. She received three square meals and shelter in exchange for her false testimony and might have harbored feelings of revenge for being kicked out of Bessler's home after his wife died. Times were different back then; there was no welfare, and being put in the poor-house meant severe shame and hard work. It might have been better to be thought of as a liar.
As for Borlach and Wagner, they were likely driven by jealousy of Bessler's fame. Since they couldn't replicate his invention, they were convinced he was a fraud in some shape or form. Their inability to achieve what Bessler did might have fueled their skepticism and negative accusations. They were happy to abuse the maids situation.
Last edited by daxwc on Sat Feb 08, 2025 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I don't think I'm necessarily right , it just does not click with me , perhaps its his explanation of what he saw because in my mind i interpret his explanation as something he used as ammunition to support his hidden crank theory , i just cant wrap my head around how he made the leap from a moving post or something to just an allegation of a hidden crank , sure the post could move i get it , but that leap is just to suspicious , however at the end of the day , i wasn't there , we weren't there .
It is strange to me how Bessler just added those external cranks too , why did he not address the other points .
Fletcher: “Of course it was thoroughly denounced at the Oct tests a few months later—but as I said, the maid was still telling the same story years later. If G. and B. had gotten to her, even after it was completely debunked, then I wonder what their or anybody's motivation to stick with that storyline was?”
The answer could be survival for the maid. She received three square meals and shelter in exchange for her false testimony and might have harbored feelings of revenge for being kicked out of Bessler's home after his wife died. Times were different back then; there was no welfare, and being put in the poor-house meant severe shame and hard work. It might have been better to be thought of as a liar.
As for Borlach and Wagner, they were likely driven by jealousy of Bessler's fame. Since they couldn't replicate his invention, they were convinced he was a fraud in some shape or form. Their inability to achieve what Bessler did might have fueled their skepticism and negative accusations. They were happy to abuse the maids situation.
To be honest , had i seen that wheel , i would likely suspect something too , but its best not to jump to conclusions of fraud , i would at least wonder and contemplate what might be happening inside the wheel , and conclude that i dont know whats happening instead of making that direct leap to fraud , and i feel like its a personality clash for me to believe much of anything they said.
Last edited by johannesbender on Sat Feb 08, 2025 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
johannesbender wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2025 3:21 pm
The way i showed is the way i understood the accusation , because of the single crank location in the single post on the drawing with the markings A and B on that particular side , the details sound murky , but i think the main point was an accusation of a human power driven crank force being shown via cracks opening up and showing a movement of the post.
johannesbender, I think that you did great. That is really impressive. I wish I could do that. I do not have to know how though, because I know you.
I see the post moving up & down as evidence of an out-of-balance motion in the wheel. When the mass is at one point, it's momentum is "lifting" the wheel; When the mass is at the opposite point, it's "pushing down". An out-of-balance flywheel or gyroscope would probably exhibit the same behavior. I suspect Bessler miscalculated making the weights (slightly heavier) in part of the wheel, but saw that it still ran just as well, and ignored it ("eh, close enough!" ;-)
"....the mechanism is so simple that even a wheel may be too small to contain it...."
"Sometimes the harder you look the better it hides." - Dilbert's garbageman
