Mechanical Devices for Striking Motions

The upper diagram shows a toothed gear interacting with a lever arm, which causes an axe-head to strike against a stationary curved blade positioned on an anvil. The lower diagram illustrates a simpler mechanism featuring a gear, a pivot arm labeled with the letter 'd', a weight labeled 'g', and a human arm extending from a mechanical mount, holding an axe-head labeled 'f'. Both illustrations are technical engravings on paper, using thin lines and cross-hatching to define the mechanical components and their movements.

This plate originates from Robert Fludd's 'Utriusque Cosmi Maioris scilicet et Minoris metaphysica, physica, atque technica Historia' (1617–1621), a seminal work of the Rosicrucian period that seeks to unify natural philosophy, music, and mechanics within a Neoplatonic worldview.