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Library/Paris Manuscript G/175

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Paris Manuscript G — 175

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Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Delle taglie.

Le corde delle taglie si compartano1 il peso da lor sostenuto con equal porzione.

La potenzia che move le taglie, è piramidale, imperò che uniformemente disforme va diminuendo in verso l'ultima corda.

E piramidale è il moto che han le corde delle taglie, perché uniformemente disforme dalla prima corda insino all'ultima si va ritardando.

Adunque quella corda sente tanto più della potenzia del motore, quanto essa è più veloce, e tanto men quanto essa è più tarda.

Tanto più sentano le corde la potenzia del lor motore, quanto esse li son più vicine, e tanto men quanto elle li son più remote2.

On pulley-blocks. The ropes of pulley-blocks share the weight they sustain in equal portions. The power that moves the pulley-blocks is pyramidal, since it goes on diminishing, in a uniformly non-uniform way, toward the last rope. And pyramidal too is the motion the ropes of the pulley-blocks have, because it goes on slowing, uniformly non-uniformly, from the first rope to the last. Therefore that rope feels the more of the mover's power the faster it is, and the less the slower it is. The ropes feel the power of their mover the more the nearer they are to it, and the less the more remote they are from it.

On Pulley-Blocks: How the Ropes Share the Load

The mover's power and the ropes' motion diminish pyramidally toward the last rope

Physics & Mechanics Machines & Devices

This page carries a theoretical note headed 'Delle taglie' (on pulley-blocks), arguing that the ropes of a tackle share the weight they sustain in equal portions. Leonardo describes both the mover's power and the ropes' motion as 'pyramidal', diminishing uniformly toward the last rope, so that each rope feels more of the driving force the faster and the nearer to the mover it is. The folio is filled with mirror-script prose and bears no diagram; faint marks at the foot are show-through from the facing page.

On this page

The ropes of a tackle share the sustained weight equally

Leonardo states that the ropes of pulley-blocks divide the weight they support into equal portions. Each rope therefore takes a fair share of the load rather than one bearing the whole.

The pyramidal law of power and motion in the ropes

The power moving the tackle is called pyramidal, uniformly diminishing toward the last rope, and the motion of the ropes likewise slows from first rope to last. A rope feels the more of the mover's power the faster and the closer to the mover it is, and the less the slower and more remote it is.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.