Finding Bessler’s clues that might aid a successful build.
Taking the clues identified on Besslerwheel wiki, we have the following which comply with the idea of parametric oscillation and with the basic design I have suggested, although I agree that the mechanism is not right yet:-
1) Machine was set in motion by weights. So is mine.
2) Weights acted in pairs, so are mine.
3) Weights gained force from their own swinging (or movement), so do mine
4) “a work of this kind of craftsmanship has, at its basis of motion, many separate pieces of lead. These come in pairs, such that as one of them takes up an outer position, the other takes up a position nearer the axle. Later, they swap places, and so they go on and on changing places all the time." So do mine
5) anyone who wants can go on about the wonderful doings of these weights, alternately gravitating to the center and climbing back up again, for I can't put the matter more clearly." so do mine
6) "A great craftsman would be that man who can 'lightly' cause a heavy weight to fly upwards! Who can make a pound-weight rise as 4 ounces fall, or 4 pounds rise as 16 ounces fall. If he can sort that out, the motion will perpetuate itself. But if he can't, then his hard work shall be all in vain.” That is what the parametric oscillation theory requires at the six o’clock point - the primary weight to fly upwards. When a pound weight falls it causes the wheel to turn and four other pound weights rise, making five in total
7) "Many would-be Mobile-makers think that if they can arrange for some of the weights to be a little more distant from the center than the others, then the thing will surely revolve. A few years ago, I learned all about this the hard way. And then the truth of the old proverb came home to be that one has to learn through bitter experience." Bessler is here telling us that some other method other than the tired old overbalancing design is required and he has already implied that it is the swing.
8) "I don't want to go into the details here of how suddenly the excess weight is caused to rise. You can't comprehend these matters, or see how true craftsmanship can rise above innate lowly tendencies (as does a weight above the point of application of a lever)" Bessler is confirming that parametric oscialltion or ‘pumping the swing’ is necessary and the primary weight has to be thrust upwards.
9) "If one weight is giving an upward impetus, another one, at the same time, is giving an equal downward one." Just as mine do.
10) "For I put together the very first device which could spontaneously revolve a little. I saw that I had finally made the right choice, and why the earlier ones had been wrong.” Mine would start spontaneously as I explained elsewhere on this site.
11) "On unfastening a bolt, the wheel immediately began to revolve." Confirmation of spontaneous starting
12) "then set it in motion - it is essentially a roughly 6 ell diameter wheel, about a foot in width. He did this with little difficulty, moving it by hand until a single weight inside it was heard to begin falling; it then began to rotate of its own accord with such a force that within a minute it had rotated 40 and more times, and could only be stopped by applying great effort." One weight, the shifter weight in my design, falls and that moves the primary weight and the wheel begins to turn and accelerates.
So there are plenty of areas where the design I have suggested fit in with the descriptions by Bessler. I really think its time to consider alternative ways of making a gravitywheel work which don’t just depend on overbalancing. Read Bessler’s own words on the subject:-
"Many would-be Mobile-makers think that if they can arrange for some of the weights to be a little more distant from the center than the others, then the thing will surely revolve. A few years ago, I learned all about this the hard way. And then the truth of the old proverb came home to be that one has to learn through bitter experience.
To satisfy those who feel that I am making unequivocal statements of opinion as if they were facts, let me say this - I know my mechanism does not do what it should yet, but I am certain that the principle behind it is the same as Bessler’s even though I cannot point to a precise statement by him to that effect.
