ramesh menaria
A Brief Overview of the Life of Orffyreus as an Inventor
Today those who know Orffyreus and understand his invention; and philosophy are very few, and on this account, his honor is still greater. Like Orffyreus many other inventors of the overbalancing wheel have had the same doom, they have gone into oblivion and we need to do a lot to bring back the glory they deserve. If Orffyreus is anonymous or forbidden today, he wasn't so around 1711 or later when he was at the zenit of his inventive career. Orffyreus could have been knighted. He could have been buried in Royal Graveyard. His destiny chose none of that. But he'd set the foundations of perpetual motion. He'd fathered the perpetual motion. Germany must be proud of the fact that he was native of it. This 17 - 18thcentury’s German inventor of perpetual motion machine, Orffyreus (1681- 1745) holds an eerie fascination to me. So today, I will tell you true story of this German inventor who sold his soul for perpetual motion. In an odd way, his whole life revolved around perpetual motion. Orffyreus was the one of the rare and best inventor of perpetual motion the world has ever had. His work on perpetual motion machine is unparalleled by any one either before or since. Orffyreus was a man of wide-ranging abilities and interests and, at one stage in his career; he earned his living as physician. He was also considered as a great mechanical engineer. He worked for Count Karl, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel as councilor and general engineer.
The word perpetual motion and Councilor Orffyreus are inseparable. He was an eager student of the 'Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science.' Guided by his intuitive feeling for perpetual motion, habit of using his intelligence to the utmost, a deepened common sense, reliance first and then on the observation and experiments, this remarkable man conceived, invented, and demonstrated a number of perpetual motion machines to renowned man of science at many towns in Germany. His last and the largest machine was demonstrated at the castle of the Weissenstein in 1717. Board of examiners was convinced that his machine was a true form of perpetual motion. Unfortunately for many reasons, his claim as an inventor of perpetual motion machine has been put aside and thrown to the dust bins of history along with all other hoaxes frauds, mysteries and fakers whose lives occupy the achieves of many a dusty shelf in the museums through out the world. History has wrongly convicted a genuine inventor and an innocent man. All of the evidence about his machine faithfully recorded in his time support the conclusion that Orffyreus was a genuine inventor who solved the riddle of the perpetual motion machine about 300 years ago, but his personal character has intensified the doubts, his contemporaries did not realize the full importance and value of the invention. “Orffyreus’ work on his perpetual motion machine could have considerably extended our horizons in physics - and in technology too. But at this particular crossroads, mankind took a wrong turn..” says George Egely, the author of the book “Forbidden Invention”
Last updated: 10-02-2011