Machine for Lifting Earth from an Excavation

The wheeled 'castle' raised off its own wheels

The wheel a serves to push the whole 'castle' forward. As it advances the castle lifts itself so far that its wheels n m no longer touch the ground.

Cutting the embankment on a calculated slope

The member b is to be half a braccio thick. The line of motion a n must be given as much obliquity as the thickness of b c, so that the piece c m falls away of its own accord.

The box: its fifth side, and the best design

A brief note marks a as the fifth side of the box that holds the earth. Leonardo judges this form 'the best of all.'

Winch cycle: a box of earth raised every ten counts

When a is lifted to the top of the 4- (or 3-) braccio cut it swings to h while b returns to a, its box kept locked to the beam-end until, reaching a, it at once descends. In that descent a comes to b, so that every ten counts a box is up, giving 100 boxes of earth raised each hour to a height of 15 braccia.

Tally of diggers and their output

Thirty men dig in three shifts of ten, at 2000 pounds. Sixty men work two machines in four shifts, plus servers, making 94 men, so that each man accounts for one box and a quarter.

Marginal columns of figures

Down the right margin run stacks of small calculations in the same reckoning, mixing whole numbers with fractions such as 1/2, 3/4 and 3/8. One remark notes that a figure 'gives 9/16 of a point,' beside totals like 1800, 2700 and 3600.

Parte del 'castello', con:

Taglio dell'argine, con:

Cassa, con:

Schema per il movimento del verricello, con:

A destra del precedente:

Lungo il margine destro, numeri e operazioni aritmetiche:

Part of the 'castle', with:

Cut of the embankment, with:

Box, with:

Scheme for the movement of the winch, with:

To the right of the preceding:

Along the right margin, numbers and arithmetic operations: