# Johann Bessler & Perpetual Motion
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 27, 1999, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149 "1999-08-27T02:45:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Undead\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Undead_Dude)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/21 "1999-08-30T20:49:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Why no patent? They are a waste of money. You have to enforce it on your own. – JimFox
LOL!!
Okay, this is getting wackier. I think the absurdity of this is obvious. If you invent something that is really going to make money, and you don’t patent it, someone else will patent it and force you to stop making it!
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### Author:  [@JimFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimFox)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/22 "1999-08-30T21:59:00Z")
Undead,
I meet with the dude who invented this stuff in a couple of days, B4 I go to Burning Man. Again I think Caddilac (sic) has the patent, I will research it. Believe me, the tailpipe (exhaust pipe) of a car that runs on this pendulum device, is cold to the touch. The car runs fine.
I will try to have a WEB site with more info on this Pendulum device at, give me until Thursday though. [http://www.cyberthings.com/pendulum](http://www.cyberthings.com/pendulum)
This is easy.
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### Author:  [@Undead\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Undead_Dude)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/23 "1999-08-30T22:14:00Z")
And again, I said that I don’t really care about the pendulum device. The only things I have commented on are teh generator, and your blanket statement about patents.
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### Author:  [@JimFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimFox)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/24 "1999-08-30T22:20:00Z")
Undead,
Only the inventor of a product can patent it. So nobody else can patent it.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/25 "1999-08-30T22:33:00Z")
What’s to stop someone from lying and saying he invented it?
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### Author:  [@Undead\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Undead_Dude)
#### Post date: [August 30, 1999, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/26 "1999-08-30T22:39:00Z")
If someone else manages to patent your invention, you are now the one responsible for proving that you invented it first. I think that makes a patent pretty important for any product that has the potential of making very large amounts of money.
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### Author:  [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)
#### Post date: [September 11, 1999, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/27 "1999-09-11T15:54:00Z")
Darnit… I wanted to buy one of those pendulum thingies. Jim’s site seems to have run out of gas:
## So Sorry
This page will be complete when I get back from Burning Man
And meet with Sunny, the inventor of
The Pendulum & The Generator.
Around Sept 6th, 1999
Jim Fox
415-454-0777
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### Author:  [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)
#### Post date: [September 12, 1999, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johann-bessler-perpetual-motion/3149/28 "1999-09-12T05:43:00Z")
FTR, there are prototype automobiles that reportedly get almost 100 MPG. They don’t use an internal combustion engine to do it, though. They have a gas turbine which is used to generate electricity, which powers 4 small electric motors.
The article I saw used the descriptive term “hybrid electric vehicle”, and also the buzzword “hypercar”. I’ll try to find the cite, if anyone cares.
* * *
Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle.
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