Here it is, Bessler's 12 ft wheel

[AB Hammer]

Thanks Hans

That was great information, I was looking at it for my 1/3 scale to do and caused me a few more questions for the display.

armagdn03

Well it is like this the disk are lodged into the corners, when it gets around to where the weights drop it pinches the disk and shoot it up to the other end where it will lodg.

[fletcher]

Nice theory Hans .. & you could well be correct with your interpretation. Bessler says that they were to regulate the wheel - from that I take it to mean that like a flywheel, when under load, they helped 'smooth out' the load & energy demands so that the wheels continued to rotate at a fairly constant rpm [clip] i.e. did not speed up & slow down or had irregular rotational speed - if that were the case then they would have some pendulum effect.

I think what is also interesting are the T bar weights - it looks like they could be moved in & out as required, in some of his woodcuts - this would mean that the Center of Gyration of the pendulums would change depending on their radius from the pivot - wide set & the inertia from the T bar weights would slow the pendulum - closer in & the pendulum would not have as much inertial resistance to twisting the path of the T bar weights & so speed up - IMO, he changed the rotational inertia characteristics when the load was near maximum so that possibly the wheel could develop more torque at perhaps slower speeds.

P.S. thanks Stephan for the spell check 

[hansvonlieven]

G'day Fletcher,

Have a close look at the so-called pendulum. Even without the counterweights that negate any pendulum effect, the pendulum, which it would be now, is far too small to have any appreciable effect on a massive wheel this size. It could not regulate anything.

Take the trouble and calculate the forces in play and you will find that my analysis is correct.

Hans von Lieven

[fletcher]

hmm .. trouble is we don't have any idea of the mass of the weights depicted in the woodcuts, it would only be a guess - but if Bessler said they were to regulate the wheel then I have no real reason not to believe him - if that were so, then he can regulate the swing period by altering the positions of the T bar weights [they don't change the CoG as they rotate equidistant around its pivot IINM], therefore there must be a reason to slow down or speed up the pendulum which in turn, being attached by crank to the wheel axle, had influence on the inner force/torque generating parts of his wheels.

I agree, its not a very good way to build a pendulum [better ways to get a lower CoG] - it might be harder to explain why he needed two on each wheel as they would counter balance ? I would suggest that since they were purportedly 180 degrees out of phase that they both loaded the wheel at the same time & had little or no effect when vertical thru their swing arc - this would suggest that his wheels developed variable torque that needed to be smoothed, perhaps under high load ? Just my thoughts !

[hansvonlieven]

G'day Fletcher,

Bessler is right, they are there to regulate the wheel, during construction and adjustments. Today we would say to calibrate the wheel.

I have Bessler's book here, in the original German and Latin bilingual version. I can read both languages. I can find no contradiction in what I am saying and in what Bessler said. Bear in mind Bessler was apart from being a very good engineer, even by today's standards, a character who enjoyed surrounding himself with an aura of mysticism.

He was also very protective of his creation (the Wheel).

Perhaps in his poetry he is far more explicit than in the main body of text. One wonders why he included this in an otherwise quite technical book.

Apart from this, the facts speak for themselves. This is a machine (the "pendulum part of it) and it is sufficiently detailled to apply reverse engineering to it. What I said about the device is not theory. You can build that part on its own without the wheel and study its behaviour and the forces involved.

Regardless of the materials and weights involved in its construction the effects are the same. By adding the weights on top he is creating a very finely balanced system far more suitable for measuring with minimum impact than to generate any meaningful force.

Believe me, it is there for the purpose of calibrating the internal weights and their distribution. It simply does not make sense in any other way.

Hans von Lieven.