A Mill Sluice with Overflow Channels
Diverting water from a mill wheel by a lateral gate, plus a question on projectile motion
A short mechanical query opens the page: given a power now disjoined from its body, with what motion does the moving body travel once separated from its mover? The main note, illustrated by a sketch of a channel and gate at the right margin, describes a mill canal with a lateral discharge: pushing the member m opens a little gate so the water no longer pours through the mouth f, where it had struck the mill wheel. Leonardo explains this arrangement is used on rivers and canals of continuous flow where there is too little room for the overflow or rinsing channels that carry off a mill's surplus water.
On this page
A gate that shuts off water from the mill wheel
Pushing the member m forward opens the little gate, so the water no longer pours through the mouth f where it used to strike the mill wheel. The scheme lets a miller take and give water on a continuously flowing river or canal.
Overflow and rinsing channels for a mill
This way of taking and giving water to mill wheels is made where continuous flow leaves little space for the outlets, or rinsing-channels, that carry off the excess waters of the mills.
Motion of a body separated from its mover
A posed problem: given a power now disjoined, with what motion does the movable body travel once it has been divided from its mover?