Water Instruments: Obliquity of the Screw
How the tilt of a water-screw sets how much water it holds and how high it lifts
This 'water instruments' page focuses on how the obliquity of the raising-screw governs its behaviour, illustrated by a coiled screw at upper right and a long diagonal wound screw below. Leonardo states that the more oblique the screw, the more water it takes in but the lower it delivers it, and the less oblique, the less it holds but the higher it carries it. He adds that an oblique screw, if unsupported, always pours out the water enclosed in it, and the more quickly the less oblique it stands, making as many turns as the coils composing it. Finally he observes that the central line of the enclosed water's weight only meets the world's central line when the screw is laid level.
On this page
Obliquity trades quantity of water against height of delivery
The more oblique the screw that carries water upward, the greater the amount of water it receives, and the lower it releases it. Conversely, the less oblique the screw, the less water it holds and the higher it delivers it.
An unsupported oblique screw pours out its water
A screw placed obliquely always spills the water enclosed within it if not held up, and pours the faster the less oblique it stands, turning as many times as the coils that compose it. The central line of the enclosed water's weight is the more remote from the drum's central line the less oblique the screw, and it joins the world's central line only when the screw is brought to the level.
