Screws and pumps for continuous water motion
A double screw kept turning, plus a pump feeding a trough and lever
The leaf develops Leonardo's self-turning water machines. At the top a cochlea grafted on a wheel and a double cochlea are drawn as devices for perpetual motion, and a detail argues that because the point a lies nearer the central axis m t than b, a must yield and rise, giving the double screw continuous motion. At the foot a pump delivers water through its conduit into a trough b and thence at once to c, described as a suitable lever.
On this page
Why the double screw keeps turning
In the detail, because a is nearer to the central line m t than b is, a must yield and go upward. For this reason, Leonardo argues, the double screw figured above will have continuous motion.
Pump delivering water to a trough and lever
The water leaves the pump a and by its conduit goes into the trough b, and from there it passes at once into c, which is a suitable lever. The arrangement carries water from one receptacle to a second.
Cochlea grafted on a wheel and a double cochlea
The upper drawings show a cochlea grafted on a wheel for perpetual motion and, beside it, a double cochlea, both sketched without accompanying description. They set out the mechanical arrangement the lower detail then explains.
