Balances with weights, universal pivots, and calculations
A crowded sheet of loaded balance-beams, pivot joints and columns of arithmetic
The sheet is crowded with small studies of balance-beams loaded with numbered weights, their arms annotated with figures that test how the loads balance about the fulcrum. Beside them Leonardo sketches pivots labelled 'disjointed pivots' and a 'universal pivot,' and at lower centre draws two circular mechanisms, one a drum ringed with cylinders. Columns of figures at the lower left record arithmetical operations, and a note in the upper right corner marks 'two figures.'
On this page
Balance-beams loaded with numbered weights
Several small diagrams show beams from which weights are hung, each arm annotated with figures such as 4 and 12, or 1, 1½ and 4 3 2 1. The numbers explore how the loads come into equilibrium about the fulcrum.
Disjointed and universal pivots
Beside the pivot sketches Leonardo notes 'disjointed pivots' and a 'universal pivot,' terms for joints that permit rotation in more than one plane.
Columns of arithmetical operations
At the lower left, columns of figures set out multiplications and additions worked down the page.