Most gravity wheels I've seen, including Abeling's, have one weight only dropping X, to supposedly lift the other weight by almost 2X. That sure slows a wheel down, or let it run backwards. Not the friction of the world can turn a truly constantly overbalanced wheel backwards.
In other parts of the wheel, it will be the other way around, way overbalanced indeed, but not lifting the upward weight by much, leaving more work to be done in a lesser overbalanced situation.

I think it was Alan that posted a useful grid with amongst others, horizontal lines to better see what the wheel is doing or verifying what it's supposed to be doing. If one chooses to only look at the overbalanced part of a wheel, it's easy to imagine it spinning out of control.

Quote from: Ken the Great on December 24, 2009, 10:21:11 PM
Hello Vidar,

I hate to be the pessimist, but your idea will not work.


1) you must harness the power of gravity.
2) you must be able to store potential energy to be released at the precise time.
3) you must be able to take full advantage of the kinetic energy that is created once the wheel is in motion

If you eliminate any one of these, you will end up building a paper weight.

Merry Christmas

I agree it will not work. However, no matter how precise you make this, a weight that must be lifted the same distance upwards as it goes downwards will not be able to provide energy...The potential and/or kinetic energy is allways lost somewhere on the way in any gravity powered device. As you cannot create excess mass out of nothing, you cannot store potential or kinetic energy - hence any gravity powered devices cannot work...

I hate to be a pessimist too...

Vidar

When one deals with reality, it is quite simple to see that kinetic energy within the wheel can be harnessed regardless if the direction or trajectory of the kinetic energy. If a person cannot figure out how to do this, it doesn't become a friction problem, that is merely a distraction, it remains and will always remain a design problem.

Lets imagine that friction is the real enemy for a second. (which it is not)
Lets take it to the extreme in a metal experiment.
The extreme would be NO friction at all (regardless  of the current possibility)
that is in fact the extreme.

If one created a design with no friction, and one's desire was simply to have a wheel that spun by itself but did no work, it is quite simple to come to correct conclusion that a BALANCED wheel would run forever without any friction.

UH OH, what happened to the overbalanced wheel?

Friction is irrelevant and always will be.
Design is critical and always will be.
Failure to understand or devise a concept to deal with these truth's in no way eliminates them.

This stands regardless of the mental wrangling of some.

Besslers wheel lifted a 70 pound weight, are we to believe that there was actually that much friction that was overcome, and the design is not important? Conclusions like this last one remind me of midget wrestling.

Friction is irrelevant.
Design is critical.
These two facts will never change.

Merry Christmas

The Love of Money is the root of all evil.

Send me 20 bucks to hear more.....

Vidar,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my design does both.
It harnesses kinetic energy while the wheel is in motion and it stores potential energy from the motion of the wheel.

If the weights are not in the correct positions, one revolution by hand will reset all of the weights and devices internally, and from that point on you can simply let go and the wheel will start turning by itself.

If you build 2 wheels according to my design, and put them together in one unit in opposite directions, the weights and devices inside of the wheel that are turning in the wrong direction simply balance out.

This allows the weights and devices in the side that is turning in the correct direction to be able continue to turn without any ill effects from the side turning in the wrong direction.

If you want to change directions, simply rotate the wheel by hand one revolution in the direction you choose, the weights going the wrong direction reset to a balanced position and the weights going in the correct direction take over. And all you have to do it let go of the wheel.

Design is critical.
Friction is irrelevant.

Merry Christmas


The Love of Money is the root of all evil.


Send me 20 bucks to hear more.....

Vidar,

By the way part of the kinetic energy my design harnesses is NON rotational kinetic energy.

Merry Christmas