Posted by John Collins (194.164.148.207) on August 15, 2002 at 23:34:40:
Hi Scott, I hope you don’t mind this email – if you think it’s ok to put up please do so, if not, delete it, but I hate to see errors creeping into the history of Bessler.
If we are determined to individually or collectively, arrive at a solution to Bessler’s wheel, I think that it is important that we base our experiments on facts and not on unsubstantiated rumour. To that end, if others are willing, I’d like to correct any assumptions that I learn of on this site relating to the history of Johann Bessler, that I believe, to the best of my knowledge, to be unfounded. I hope that contributors and lurkers on this site will not think that this is presumptuous of me. My aim is only to help both myself and others towards a solution.
For the record, I have spent all of my adult life researching the history of Bessler – over thirty years – and I count myself something of an expert on the subject. I hold in my possession copies of over 700 documents relating to Bessler – in English, Latin, French, German and Russian. I have done many radio interviews both local and national; had articles about my research appear in a number of internationally available magazines and of course published a book about Bessler which has currently sold out but is about to be replaced by an updated version – really!
With regard to Grim’s comments about “a simple arrangement of weights and strings”– no where in all of the documentation which I have is there any mention of Karl giving any details of the wheels - nor of anyone else either for that matter. I suspect that this description arises from a misquote from a passage from Frank Edward’s book, “Strangest of All” which, while a good read, does contain a fair amount of poetic license. In fact Karl swore on oath not to reveal any details and it is on record that he kept his word. All he ever said about the internal workings of the wheel was a comment to Professor s’Gravesande that the wheel was very simple and a carpenter’s boy could understand it and make it after having seen the interior. He is also reported to have commented to one of his ministers that he was amazed that no-one else had ever made one before.
I hope that this helps.
John Collins