Machine for shaping and tempering points
Foot-operated point-making tool that bends at knees A B; mechanisms on two mounted sheets
Two sheets are mounted one above the other. The larger lower sheet is dominated by a hatched machine whose middle wheel is raised and lowered by the foot through a screw so that a worked point can be tempered and finished, the frame bending at hinges lettered A and B. A marginal note proposes using a counterweight in place of a spring. The upper sheet carries further studies of shafts, pulleys and cylindrical devices whose lettering is not transcribed here.
On this page
Foot-driven machine for finishing points, hinged at A B
The middle wheel's pole is lowered and raised by the foot, and the wheel descends by a screw to form and finish the point, which is set in place already tempered. The whole instrument folds at the knees or hinges marked A and B. It is offered as the better of the arrangements considered.
A counterweight instead of a spring
A short marginal note records the idea of substituting a hanging counterweight for a spring as the driving or return element of the mechanism. It reflects Leonardo's habit of comparing stored-weight and stored-tension as sources of motive force.
Associated arms and artillery studies
Alongside the machine-tool studies the sheet carries small mechanical sketches catalogued with crossbow and bombard motifs. These military devices are drawn rather than described, and no accompanying text for them is transcribed here.
