Sheet of Mechanical Studies with a Faint Flower (818 verso)
Screw-jacks, ratchet bars and gearing, with a lightly drawn iris-like plant
The e-Leo record notes that this verso was invisible before restoration and carries no transcribed writing, yet the leaf is densely covered with pen sketches of mechanisms: screw-jacks and worm-screws, ratchet bars, gear trains, cranked lifting devices and a large spoked wheel. Near the upper centre a lightly drawn plant with pointed petals, resembling an iris, sits among the machines. A few faint numerals are also present, but no original text is supplied for translation.
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Screw-jacks, ratchets and gearing
The sheet is filled with mechanisms drawn in pen: worm-screws and screw-jacks, toothed ratchet bars, gear trains and cranked lifting frames, with a large spoked wheel at the right. The parts are scattered as separate studies across the leaf.
Faint flower among the machinery
Near the upper centre a plant is drawn faintly with slender leaves and pointed petals, in the manner of an iris. It stands out from the surrounding mechanical studies as the sole botanical subject on the sheet.
