System of wheels stepping by powers of ten
A geared apparatus and lifting tackle, with a marginal scale from 10 to 100,000
The upper drawing continues the frame machine of the facing leaf, a toothed wheel and ratchet set in a timber frame. In the margin Leonardo notes a 'system of wheels' with the series 10, ..., 10,000, 100,000, the multiplication that a train of ten-to-one gears would accumulate stage by stage. A lower sketch again works out the hoisting gear: pulley-blocks with hooks and a screw turnbuckle.
On this page
Geared frame and lifting tackle
The framed toothed wheel and ratchet reappear at the top of the sheet, and the lower part of the leaf lays out the pulley-blocks, hooks and a screw turnbuckle that pair with it. Together they form a geared, cord-driven lifting machine.
A wheel-train counted in tens
A marginal note labels a 'system of wheels' and records the series 10, ..., 10,000, 100,000. Each step multiplies by ten, the ratio that a chain of ten-to-one gear pairs would produce as one shaft drives the next.