Posted by Nick Hall (195.74.122.243) on May 19, 2003 at 00:31:47:
Several people have expressed the opinion that Bessler's wheel must have been very precisely balanced. IMHO this is not so - at least my experiments lead me to believe that while imbalance may cause slightly increased inefficiency (either reduced turning force or 'wobble', it has to be quite bad before the thing stops.
Bessler himself wrote:
"The design has, in fact, progressed to the point where there is nothing supercritical about the exact disposition of the weights - an ounce more or less, here or there, makes not a scrap of difference to the Wheel, which will hold its course serenely without "turning a hair". "
Nick