Axle-pivots: wear, bearing metals, and balancing a crank
Why pivots wear to a curved profile, and how to gauge and support them
This recto page continues Leonardo's study of the pivots (poli) that carry rotating shafts and wheels, sketched at the right as conical and mushroom-shaped journals resting in their sockets, with a crank-wheel and its counterweight at the left. The long central note reports his finding that pivots of any metal wear thinnest at the middle of their length, so a form once made of straight lines is later found to be of curved lines, and traces the cause to filings trapped in lubricant that act like a file or emery. Shorter notes prescribe tempered steel for the pivot, mirror- or bell-metal for the lower bearing and lead for the upper half, and explain how conical pivots carry great cart loads. A final pair of notes balances a single-crank wheel with lead placed opposite the crank at the pivot.
On this page
Why pivots wear thin at the middle, turning straight lines into curves
Leonardo reports finding that every pivot, of whatever metal, wears so that the part nearest the middle of its length becomes thinner while the ends stay thicker, so a form once of straight lines becomes one of curved lines. The cause is the grease or water at the contact: fine filings lodge in the supporting wood and act as a file or emery. Where water is near the wood's end it flushes the filings away, but in the middle it settles and wears the pivot more.
Materials for the pivot and its bearing
Wheel pivots should be made of tempered steel. The half of the bearing (madre) on which the pivot rests should be of mirror-metal or bell-metal, while the upper half should be of lead, well packed down so that it does not shift about.
Conical pivots for heavy loads and how to gauge their resistance
Some use pyramidal (tapered) pivots, especially to bear great weights, as seen daily on carts; the beginning is made thick because the load bears down on its root at the inner mouth of the wheel. To calculate the resistance, take the measure of its diameter at the middle of the length of contact it has with its bearing.
Counterweight for a single-crank wheel
A wheel with only one crank (manico) must carry, on the side opposite the crank's turn, as much weight as will balance the crank. In the figure, n is the lead that must counter the crank's weight, set below the pivot at m.
