Pumps for Raising Water, and a Self-Feeding Fireplace
Pendulum pumps, a water-lifting bellows, and a fire that never needs stoking
The sheet, headed "how to make water rise," gathers several machines for lifting water to the top of a tower. Leonardo draws pendulum pumps in which the moving part is now the "female," now the "male," a bellows that drives water upward, and a pump that acts exactly like a squirt or syringe. A separate diagram shows a self-feeding fireplace, its fuel opening capped with sifted ash and a flat stone so it does not draw from above, giving a fire that always has wood without being stoked.
On this page
Pendulum pump: the 'female' part moves
One of a series of pendulum-driven pumps for raising water, drawn as a tower with the mechanism at its foot. Here the moving element is the 'female' (receiving) part of the pump.
Pendulum pump: the 'male' part moves
A companion pendulum pump in which, by contrast with the first, the moving element is the 'male' (plunging) part of the mechanism.
Bellows that drives water to the top of a tower
A bellows-powered device intended to push water upward to the summit of a tower. Its stated purpose is simply to make water rise.
Pump that works like a syringe
Another pendulum pump whose action, Leonardo notes, performs exactly the office of a squirt or syringe, forcing water out under pressure.
A self-feeding fireplace
A fireplace designed to keep burning without stoking. Along the rim of the fuel opening a finger's depth of sifted ash is laid and topped with a flat stone so the fire does not draw from above, giving a hearth that always has wood.
