Theatre of Instruments and Machines

The structure of the frame is raised and lowered in the same manner, with water driving the wheel placed below to the south. While this is moved, the part of the wheel that is set so that one part of it is lower and the other higher is moved, such that when the balance-beam falls to the lower part, it is gradually raised to the higher part. The rest can be seen from the figure itself.

PROP. XLVII.

By this new and durable machine, through the principle of a tube and valves attached internally to the head of the tube, water is easily drawn from a well by simultaneous attraction and impulsion, with a balance-beam acting.

Declaration of the 47th figure.

Two things are particularly to be noted here, namely the upper and lower framework. It is helpful to explain both together.

In the upper one, which leans toward the north, there is an axis in the middle of which is an internal bipartite screw, around which are two external ones that meet together at the center and recede together from that same center. From each external part hangs an operating arm, in the other part of which is the pole of the intermediate tube that draws the water.

That tube is supplied with water by others, which are two arms that are positioned on the axis of the balance-beam in such a way that when one part is depressed, the other is raised. At the ends of these are chains that are led to the bottom of the well, in which there are two other small balance-beams, the center of which is 14 p. distant from the meridian line and 1 p. 13 p. from the eastern one. The aforementioned chains are extended to the ends of these, so that when the eastern part of the arms is raised, their eastern part is also raised, and likewise in the other arms. To the east, moreover, is a tube parallel to the beam carrying the balance-beams, as there is also to the west; into each of these are placed two others, the figure of which is in the eastern and western vacuum, with their axis placed in the slit of each tube along with the balance-beam. From these last-mentioned tubes, a larger tube is filled which extends to the mouth of the well, from which water is drawn by the action of valves as in common ones.

PROP. XLVIII.

This new mechanism shows by what industry, using a tube with a valve added as elsewhere, water flowing through can be led from a depressed place to the height of a tower, even by drawing and pushing, through the artifice of a lever.

Declaration of the 48th figure.

The entire subtlety of this machine is in the handle, of which we shall speak in its proper place. First, therefore, there are two things to be considered here, namely the motion and the extraction of water; let us speak of each in order.

The cause of the motion is the largest wheel which leans toward the east; it is moved by the flow of water. On its axis is a toothed gear whose teeth, entering a drum, move it. The axis of the drum is carried to the west, at the western end of which is a handle so reflexed that one part is parallel to the pivot but does not coincide with it. This part enters a barrel distant 1 p. 1 p. from the meridian line and 22 p. from the western line. This barrel is in a movable beam, which beam in its middle part is crossed toward the north by a southern timber 2 p. 15 p., and that timber is affixed to it. At the extremities of this timber are two holes in which are moved the two arms constituting the lever, the southern end of which is distant from the meridian line... p. ... and 17 p. from the western one, where the axis is around which they are moved. In the other part, the small arms are grasped by a ring, and those two small arms are joined to the ring like a threshing flail, so that they are compressed or depressed by motion; when they are compressed, they raise the pole that draws the water. The motion of these is caused chiefly by the handle, for this handle pulls or pushes the timber that adheres to the barrel. The lower part, which is to the south, is a valve; the rest are common and pertain to the stability and compression of the machine.

PROP. XXXLIX.