This animation depicts what may have been the design for an "perpetual fountain" that Johann Bessler invented in 1738. I believe it was intended to honor his previously deceased patron, Count Karl von Hessen, who had generously sponsored the construction of Bessler's largest 12 foot diameter perpetual motion wheel at the count's castle in Kassel, Saxony in 1717.
The count was convinced in the healing and soothing properties of splashing water and was even considering using giant versions of Bessler's perpetual motion wheels to continuously lift water 300 feet up to the top of a small mountain near the count's castle so it could flow and splash its way down a long cascade to a small lake behind the castle. As a result the air along the cascade would be filled with the negative ions to invigorate all who visited the site. Could Bessler's wheels have had the power to do something like that? Quite possibly!
The small perpetual fountain shown in this video reveals the hydraulics of a perpetual motion wheel powered double piston pump that is located directly below the collection dishes of the fountain. For an actual installation, however, the wheel and double pistons would probably have been located a distance from the dishes and hidden in an underground chamber. The pistons would have been connected to the fountain through buried pipes. Note that the bottom largest dish can never overflow because its water is constantly drained from the dish by the double pistons during their alternating intake strokes. People would have marveled at the fountain and wondered how it worked and managed to produce a constant output. The flow of the water through the pipes is controlled by small check values which only allow it to flow in one direction and then snap shut (indicated by them turning black) when an attempt is made to force the water to reverse its direction of flow through them.
There is so much more to the Bessler story than is hinted at in this short video. To learn about it in detail, see the book titled "The Triumphant Orffyrean Perpetual Motion Finally Explained!" by Kenneth W. Behrendt which is the largest volume ever written that is dedicated exclusively to Bessler and his perpetual motion wheels and reveals exactly how they worked. It is available from most online booksellers and bricks and mortar bookstores worldwide.
