Raising water up a mountain with a wheel and jet-pumps
Water falling two miles drives a wheel and jet-pumps (schizzaroli) to lift water one mile up the slope
Leonardo proposes to lift water a mile up a mountain and hold it on the summit, drawing a mill-house with a wheel high on the slope and a long conduit down which the water plunges. If the water is as thick as your leg the conduit should be as thick as your thigh, and if it climbs one mile it should descend two, so that the fury of the water between b and c wrenches up the water at d e and turns the wheel of the jet-pumps (schizzaroli). He explains that no air can enter the cistern (bottino) because its little valve (animella) closes on each return stroke and sits two braccia under water, and gives a procedure for first filling the conduit by gathering a small lake, stopping the pipes at c e, then releasing it once the four-braccia wheel stands half a braccio deep.
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Lifting water a mile up a mountain
To carry water a mile up a mountain and hold it there, Leonardo sizes the conduit to the water (as thick as your thigh for water as thick as your leg) and has it descend two miles for every mile it climbs. The fury of the falling water between b and c then wrenches up the water found at d e and turns the driving wheel. The scheme is figured as a mill-house and pipe running down the slope from a d, b e and c.
Jet-pumps (schizzaroli) and the sealing valve
The wheel drives jet-pumps whose pistons draw from a cistern (bottino) sealed by a little valve (animella) at the bottom. On every return stroke the valve closes, and since it lies two braccia under water no air can enter unless it first admits that depth of water. Leonardo directs filling the conduit from a small gathered lake, then closing the case once the four-braccia wheel stands half a braccio deep.