A Screw-Clamp Device; Low Boughs Bending to Earth
Movable jaws a b fixed by screws n m grip a member c; heavy-fruited branches droop
A red-chalk botanical note observes that the lowest branches of plants bearing large leaves and heavy fruit — walnuts, figs and the like — always bend down toward the earth, and that branches are always born above the leaf. The lower half of the page carries pen drawings of a clamping device: two movable jaws a b that can be brought together or apart and fixed at any position by two screws n m, gripping between them a member c, which must be well pitched so that moisture in the material resting on it does not warp it. Faint machine sketches appear in the right margin, and the sheet bears the Institut de France library stamp.
On this page
Heavy-fruited low branches bend toward the earth
The lowest branches of plants that bear large leaves and heavy fruit, such as walnuts, figs and the like, always direct themselves toward the earth. Branches are always born above the leaf.
Screw-clamp with jaws a b and screws n m gripping member c
The jaws a b are movable and can be brought together or drawn apart and fixed in any position by the two screws n m, so that they clamp between them the member c. That member c must be well pitched (tarred) so that moisture from the material resting on it does not make it warp and spoil what stands upon it.
Faint machine sketches in the right margin
Light, indistinct drawings that appear to be of machines are laid in along the right margin of the sheet. No transcription is supplied for any inscription accompanying them.