A radial wheel of tubes filling and emptying
Water descending in sequence through the lettered chambers f, g, h, a, b, c, d, e and hub m, n
A large wheel of eight radial arms, each ending in a lettered chamber around a central hub m, n, dominates the sheet. Leonardo traces water passing between the tubes: h fills before it moves, g is empty, f is full, and the run e d c b a is full; the only inequality is the empty g against the full c, so that as c descends toward d, f at once empties on acquiring obliquity. When the water of g descends into the empty n, n begins to descend into the empty tube c. Faint cylinders, a small vaned rotor and architectural sketches at the sides are not transcribed in this bundle.
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Water descending in sequence through the chambers
Chamber h fills before it moves, g is empty, f is full, and e d c b a is full; the sole inequality is the empty g against the full c. As c descends toward d, f empties as soon as it acquires obliquity. When the water of g has descended into the empty n, n begins to descend into the empty tube c.
The eight-armed lettered rotor
The wheel carries eight radial arms, each terminating in a labelled chamber f, g, h, a, b, c, d, e around a central hub marked m, n. Two of the chambers are noted as empty ('nulla'). The arrangement is studied for how imbalance of filling might carry the wheel around.
Empty against full: the inequality that seeks to move
The whole scheme turns on a single inequality, the void chamber set against the full one, which is released the moment a chamber acquires obliquity and tips its water onward. Leonardo tracks this as the driving disequilibrium of the device.