Orffyreus Wheel by Johann Bessler

orffyreus wheel Johann Ernst Elias Bessler (alias Orffyreus, 1680 – November 30, 1745) was a German entrepreneur who demonstrated a series of devices he claimed exhibited perpetual motion.

In 1712 he appeared in the town of Gera in the province of Reuss and exhibited a "self-moving wheel," which was about (2 m) in diameter and 4 inches (10 cm) thick. Once in motion it was capable of lifting several pounds.

orffyreus diagram Leaving Gera, Bessler moved to Draschwitz, near Leipzig, where in 1713 he constructed an even larger wheel, a little over nine feet in diameter and six inches (15 cm) in width. The wheel could turn at fifty revolutions a minute and raise a weight of forty pounds (18 kg). Bessler constructed a still larger wheel in Merseburg before moving to the small independent state of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), where Prince Karl, the reigning Landgrave, offered him rooms in the ducal castle at Weissenstein.[citation needed] It was here that in 1717 he constructed his largest wheel so far, 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and 14 inches (36 cm) thick.

The wheel was examined by many of Johann Bessler's contemporaries, including Willem 's-Gravesande and Gottfried Leibniz, who viewed the one-directional wheel in 1714 and reported: "Orffyreus is a friend of mine, and he allowed me, some time ago, to carry out some experiments with his machine. It ran continuously for two hours in my presence and demonstrated considerable power. There is something extraordinary about Orffyreus' machine and we must not ignore it, because it could bring tremendous benefits."

He concluded that it was not a deception.[citation needed] On November 12, 1717, the wheel was locked in a room in the castle with the doors and windows tightly sealed to prevent any interference. This was observed by the Landgrave and various officials. Two weeks later, the seals were broken and the room was opened; the wheel was still revolving. The door was resealed until January 4, 1718, whereupon it was opened and the wheel was still revolving at twenty-six revolutions per minute.

In a letter to Sir Isaac Newton, Willem 's-Gravesande described the device as a hollow wheel with framed wood cross pieces, covered by canvas to prevent the mechanism from being seen. 's-Gravesande reported that, when pushed, the wheel took two or three revolutions to reach a maximum speed of around 25 revolutions per minute.

Whilst various institutions, including the Royal Society, were debating whether to raise funds to purchase "Orffyreus's Wheel", William 's-Gravesande examined the axle of the wheel, concluding that he could see no way in which the wheel could be a fake. Bessler smashed the wheel, believing 's-Gravesande was hoping to discover the secret of the wheel without paying for it, and declared that the curiosity of the professor had provoked him.