The real alternate energy.

We have two sources of infinite, inexhaustible energy - gravity and magnetism. Not surprisingly, many people are actively trying to produce an 'engine' utilizing at least one of these principles. In particular, the Bessler wheel has aroused much interest (see www.besslerwheel.com) as it appears to be a working example from the past. However, the age of this, and the fact that nobody has reproduced a working wheel since, gives rise to much scepticism. Was it real or not?

A gravity wheel of any kind utilizes not only the force of gravity but also inertia, and is further effected by centripetal/centrifugal forces. If you are one of the budding wheel builders, then you have to fully understand these forces. A course in Orbital Mechanics would also be useful (NASA has one on it's site).

Gravity.
What many people fail to understand is that gravity operates in one direction only - downwards! Yet a wheel design follows a circular path. This means that in practice, gravity forces effect the wheel in a manner which is sinucidal, therefore, you need to understand sine waves and RMS values.

Inertia.
Basically, when an object is put into motion, it will keep moving in a straight line until some other force such as friction, air resistance, etc. acts upon it to slow down and eventually stop it. Now, a wheel doesn't follow a straight line!

Centripetal/centrifugal forces
I mention these together as most people do not understand the difference between them! One will tear your wheel apart, while the other will prevent parts from moving at all.

Vectors.
All the above forces act in different directions and we need to find the resultant force acting on our bushes and bearings. So brush up on your maths!

Coming back to Gravity, which is obviously the main driving force, we know very little about it. But we do have one law - perhaps the only law we really need! That is "the acceleration due to gravity". This is the one which gives us the formula - 9.8 Metres/sec/sec.
What we get from this law is, in fact, the maximum speed of rotation for any size of wheel driven solely by gravity. Consider a weight in a wheel with zero degrees representing the top and 180 degrees the bottom of it's arc of movement, measured in the direction of rotation. At 0 and 180 degrees, there is NO downwards motion - thus zero acceleration. Between 0 and 90 degrees, we have acceleration taking place. Between 90 and 180 degrees, we have deceleration (the sine wave pattern)! At 90 degrees itself, we find the maximum acceleration and also the direction is straight down, i.e. matching the direction of gravity.

If you understood the above, you can test it out by using what is known about the Bessler wheel. Call the diameter of the wheel 5.75 Metres (OK, Bessler's wheel was 19 feet. Did they really use feet at that time in Europe?), and the reported RPM of 26. Now find the rotational speed of the weight (in Metres per second), the 'drop' in Metres, the time of the 'drop', and apply the formula. Allow for friction, compensate for the sine pattern, and the result is somewhere near correct!

What is important to understand is that the acceleration formula actually gives us the maximum and WE CANNOT EXCEED THIS RATE OF ACCELERATION.

As I understand it, Bessler was only giving a demonstration, so why such a large wheel? The answer lies in the calculations we have just done. A small (model) wheel simply wont work! It wouldn't have sufficient speed, nor enough inertia to keep it going. Likewise, a larger wheel would most probably be adversely effected by the centripetal/centrifugal forces. Therefore, I have to reach the conclusion that the Bessler wheel, as reported, is the optimum size or perhaps the ONLY size that can work!

As inertia and centripetal/centrifugal forces rely entirely on mass (which is the same as weight on Earth), the materials that make up the wheel would be critical. Bessler's wheel was probably made mostly of wood. Today, a wooden structure of that size would be enormously expensive. A steel construction wheel of the same size may or may not work! Whatever, this is not the type of model that you build in your house!

But for those who own castles, here are a few pointers. The wheel by it's very nature is unbalanced and will try to tear itself out of the ground. A substantial foundation is essential. The report that Bessler demonstrated the wheel inside a locked room fails to state how long it took to install!

I have an un-built design which I feel will work, but already I know it's limitations. The torque will be enormous but the actual power output isn't that great. Think positive! An internal combustion engine will work in a single cylinder design, but is much more powerful in a multi-cylinder configuration. Likewise, a gravity wheel could be made up of multiple stages. It would then be self starting and just about impossible to stop! What is more, the unbalancing would be much less noticeable. But since I live in a flat, it isn't going to be built just yet! And don't ask for the design either.

In conclusion, I am convinced that Bessler's wheel was real, and did work. What we need to do now is to stop wasting our time on table-top models and start building full size machines.

Good luck to you all!

Magnetic engines have recently come back into the news with reports of several successful designs being produced. Naturally, the actual designs are being kept secret. Like gravity, magnetism isn't well understood.

We have four states of magnetism:-
None - i.e. it isn't magnetic.
The North pole.
The South pole.
The Neutral pole.

What? A neutral pole! Yes indeed, there is such a thing as a neutral pole which repels both North and South poles equally! It may not be called that, but it is found in a number of patent applications. What is more, we can simulate it in a very easy electronic circuit, using a hall-effect switch to rapidly switch the direction of current through an electromagnet coil. This may not be the real neutral pole (I said simulate afterall) but it does work!

Magnetism has a number of attractions to would-be inventors. Not least because we are not limited to rotary designs, but linear designs and non moving electrical generators are possible. Strangely enough, the latest reports are all of rotary designs! What is holding us back is the lack of scientific laws relating to magnetism.

Of further interest is the magnetic shielding materials and the effects of rotating magnetically susceptable material. You can do amazing things with a used computer hard disk! (Search "levitation hard disk") A used hard disk is also the source of a very, very powerful magnet (two in some!) encased in shielding material.

Magnetism is really an unexplored field which could yield tremendous benefits for mankind to solve our energy needs. Given that the Earth itself is a huge magnet, there just has to be a way to tap this energy. And indeed there are a number of stories available on the Internet that claim to do just that. Unfortunately, these have even less practical information than we have about Bessler's wheel. But they have good company - well known names such as Tesla feature in these. Surely there must be an element of truth in some of these stories! At least we hope so!