Johann Bessler’s Use of Alphanumerics.

In addition to his search for the solution to designing and building a perpetual motion machine Johann Bessler was also fascinated with the subjects of numbers, alphabets, alphanumerics and chronograms.  This obsession might have been heightened by his visit to Prague where he learned about codes and ciphers.

He used his name to encode information about the number five and fifty-five.  Potentially this clue pointed to the pentagram and/or chapter 55 of his second book Apologia Poetica(AP).  This chapter is full of coded stuff which I go into more on my websites at www.theorffyreuscode.com and www.orffyreus.net

His first two illustrations, one in Grundlicher Bericht (GB) and another version in Das Triumphans…(DT) include a lot of numbered parts.  Using just the numbers 1 - 24, he obtained a total of 660 which divided by 12 gives 55.  Why divide by 12?  Because Bessler cleverly embedded a clock in the same two drawings showing the 12 hours. This is the one from DT.

By drawing the lines of perspective within the illustration you can find a clock.  This is confirmed by the eight o’clock line which includes two items numbered eight. Taking the 660 and dividing it by the clock’s twelve hours we obtain 55 

His next illustration in DT was the Die Andere and Secunda Figua which was one illustration in two parts.  He uses just the numbers from 1 - 10 which totals 55. Addingh all the numbers used on the left side totals 28, but those on the right add up to - you guessed it, 55!  

The last illustration was of his wheel driving an Archimedes screw pump and included labelled parts, but this time he used the alphabet, labelling parts from ‘a’ to ‘t’, plus one part labelled 10, although it also looked like the letter ‘w’.  I checked the list of numbered parts and it did show a 10 and not a ‘w’.  Why not use the letter ‘u’ to follow his use of the letter’u’?

Maybe by using Bessler’s favoured Caesar shift system, we find that ‘w’ is equivalent to the letter ‘j’, ‘j is the tenth letter.  So why? I think it was a hint to read the alphabetic in this figure as both alphanumerics as well as the atbash. Any way the totals are as follows.

There are 39 numbers totalling 355. The letter ‘e’ is as usual missing from the left side, but that was how he highlighting the number. Adding the 5 to 355 to give 360,  and brings the number total 40 - so 20 for each half.  360 divided by 20 equals 18, the basic pentagonal number, snd of course 360 divided by the missing 5 equals 72, one fifth of the pentagon.

I could go on because there’s so much more, but although this is interesting it’s just another pointer to the number 5 and 55, which can point to the need for five mechanisms, and/or chapter 55 in his Apologia Poetica which has the 141 Bible references, and for a look at my attempts to decipher it see my web site at http://www.orffyreus.net/.      

More hidden, more useful,  information to follow.

JC

More Information Hidden In Plain Sight

 I have mentioned the “craftsman phrase” on my blog, several times and I suggested that it meant that the fallen weight only needed to be lifted 30 degrees.   Below is another illustration from Bessler’s “Das Triumphant Orffyrean Perpetual Motion” (DT) which repeats the same information graphically.  This one is ingenious.

As usual I have included a pentagon because it’s a vital ingredient in Bessler’s wheel and as you’ll see, it’s presence is implied. Another feature of all the illustrations in DT is his use of the numbering of each part. The first picture in DT, which shows the Merseburg wheel, includes the numbers from 1 to 24, which totals 660.  He embedded a clock within the picture, 660 divided by the 12 hours equals 55.  Yes there it is again, his recurring number 55. You can find several references to the use of the clock in my blog, just use the search box at the bottom of the right side panel.

The same applies in the following illustration. He only uses the numbers from 1 to 10, but added together they total 55 - there’s definitely a theme here! - and when all the numbers in the right hand picture are added together they also total 55.

In the illustration below, I have filled in the pentagram in red. Originally the two drawings were on adjacent but separate pages. In the crease of the binding there were two rows of black and white lines allowing one to push together the two pages to make a perfect join at their two black borders as in the illustration.

The red line extends the upper right side of a pentagram in the left hand drawing, to coincide with the centre of the right circle. The triangle has a bottom angle of 30 degrees, and an upper right angle of 72 degrees and the remaining one, 78 degrees to complete the triangle.  In a pentagram that triangle has two 72 degree angles and one 36 degree but in this case the small bottom angle measures 30 degrees so the upper right one is 72 degrees which means the remaining one has to be 78 degrees.

Notice that in the the left picture the wheel contains horizontal hatchings and outside of the wheel they are vertical.  In the right picture the hatch marks are vertical and there are none outside the wheel.  The left picture is cut off on the right side. It looks as though we are meant to slide the right one over to the left, above the left one.

 

The elliptical or ovoid shape on the bottom of the triangle is designed to tell us to rotate the whole pendulum around it.  I realised this was necessary because of the three lines coming out of it seemed to suggest this as a possibility. and because we know the 30 degrees is the size of the lift required in Bessler’s connectedness principle.

In the next illustration I have copied across the large triangular pendulum and tilted it so that the centre of the three verticals coming out of the ovoid are located on the centre of the left side wheel and aligned with the hatching lines  The two weights identified with red circles fit precisely on the rope, showing the 30 degree lift. The blue lines demonstrate the position if we ignore red circled weights, which I think shows that they shouldn’t be ignored.  

The 30 degrees indicates the 30 degrees the weight must be lifted. As was usual with Bessler’s clues, he provides confirmation that the interpretation is correct, by including an additional clue. So the 72 degree angle in the upper right of the triangular pendulum suggests the presence of a pentagram and the top bar on it, once rotated, aligns with the extension of the pentagram from the left drawing. In confirmation that both drawing should be taken together, using all the numbers used to label the parts, 1 – 10 total 55. 55 is the number that Bessler uses everywhere to point to his five mechanisms, via the pentagram.

JC

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