New Bellows for Caulking a Ship Afloat
Flexible jointed tubes tested with paper blowpipes (ff. 24v-21r)
On folio 24v Leonardo describes a new kind of bellows he calls most perfect for caulking a ship in any part of a voyage without careening it. Its flexible tubes (canne) are joined at a b with a tempered iron wire, shaped like the back of a knife, run inside a double leather sheath so the tube bends without keeping its curve and resists the great crushing force; a bag n catches anything falling from above and empties from below. He proposes testing the design by building blowpipes of pasted paper, trying short pieces first before lengthening them. The facing page 21r is blank.
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New bellows-fed apparatus for caulking a ship afloat
Leonardo introduces a new kind of bellows (mantice) that serves very well and is most perfect for caulking a ship in any part of a voyage, without making it show its keel, that is without careening it.
Jointing the flexible tubes with tempered iron wire
At a b the tube (canna) sections are joined; a tempered iron wire, shaped like the middle back of a knife, runs inside the leather binding so that when the whole tube bends the iron does not keep its curve. The leather sheath must be double, so that if the outer breaks the inner is not consumed, resisting the very great force that pushes on it.
The catch-bag n and its emptying
The bag n is set so that anything falling from above is received within without hindering the inner core (anima). Once the bag n is full of material it can be emptied from the lower part, again without obstructing its core.
Testing the tube with pasted-paper blowpipes
To prove the design, Leonardo makes two blowpipes (cerbottane) of pasted paper over one equal rod, taken off the form by cutting them lengthwise and re-sealed with pasted paper. He tests short pieces first and, succeeding, lengthens them as far as he can to experiment with the whole.