Studies of springs, gears and weighted mechanisms
Clockwork-like devices and hanging weights, dated in the margin to 18 November
Drawn with the sheet turned upside down, this page is filled with mechanical studies: a coiled spring drum, a large toothed wheel driving a smaller pinion, escapement-like linkages, and arched frames from which spherical weights hang on cords. Only a marginal date, the eighteenth of November, is transcribed; the mechanisms themselves are untranscribed. Together they read as studies of springs, gearing and the action of weights.
On this page
Spring drum and geared wheel-and-pinion
At the lower left a circular drum wound with a spiral spring is drawn, while the right of the sheet shows a large toothed wheel engaging a smaller pinion within a frame. Escapement-like rods and linkages connect them, in the manner of clockwork. None of this mechanism is covered by the transcription.
Hanging weights on arched frames
Across the upper register, arched frames carry spherical weights suspended on cords and rods, with a balance-like beam among them. They study how suspended weights load and drive the linked mechanisms below.