How the Thickness of a Cord Shares a Suspended Weight
Load carried by cords and a belt, with cases marked "false"
Folio 164v continues Leonardo's study of how a load is distributed across the thickness of a cord, holding that the part nearest the center of the weight it holds is the most burdened, and that with several cords the parts nearest the neighboring cords feel more. A central belt (cinghia) diagram shows that a r carries all the weight while n feels nothing, because r c are the centers of the weights b n and a n. Leonardo marks some sketched cases "falsa" (false), and a memorandum reminds him that this is "practice" and that the "theory" should be placed before it. Numbered cord-and-scale diagrams fill the right column.
On this page
Which part of a cord's thickness bears the most load
That part of the thickness of a cord is the most burdened which is nearest to the center of the weight it sustains. A companion statement adds that when a single cord alone supports a weight, the part nearest the center of its own thickness bears most.
Belt support: a r carries all, n feels nothing
The central figure is a belt (cinghia) rig. Leonardo notes that a r has all the weight while n feels nothing, because r c are the centers of the weights b n and a n.
Reminder to place theory before practice
A note to himself observes that what is written here is called "practice," but that he should remember to put the "theory" before it, ordering the treatise theory-first.
Distribution across more than one cord
If the cords are more than one, those parts of their thickness will feel more weight which lie nearer to the neighboring cords. The claim generalizes the single-cord rule to bundled or multiple supports.