Catapult, needle-grinder sketches and a Latin siege epigram
Mechanical sketches with gear numbers, and a three-couplet verse on a town under bombardment
The sheet carries pen sketches of mechanical devices — paired U-shaped sprung frames (tagged as catapults), a crank-turned disc wheel read as a needle-grinding machine, a basin, screws, and a hand gripping a tool — annotated with isolated numbers (8, 2 1/2; 100-600). Above the two arched frames Leonardo has written "Dimmi come si fanno le cose" (Tell me how things are made). Turned 90 degrees, a Latin epigram in three couplets stages a siege dialogue: a besieger orders a town to open its gates for Federigo, the defenders vow their breasts will stand for walls, and finally the walls fall to the bombards. Faint offset imagery from a facing page shows through but is not transcribed.
On this page
Crank-turned grinding wheel and sprung frames
The mechanisms include a crank-driven disc at the right (a needle-grinding wheel per the Codex Atlanticus tags), paired U-shaped sprung frames at top centre, a basin, and screw forms. Scattered numbers such as 8 and 2 1/2 annotate their proportions, and a hand at lower left grips a tool as if in use.
"Tell me how things are made"
Above the two arched frames Leonardo writes the phrase "Dimmi come si fanno le cose." It reads as a note of curiosity attached to the mechanical study on the sheet.
Latin siege epigram in three couplets
Written with the sheet turned 90 degrees, three Latin couplets form a dialogue of siege: a besieger demands the gates be opened for Federigo, the defenders answer that their breasts will stand in place of walls, and the walls are said to fall to the bombards. The verse names the Ghibelline cause and the men of Colle.