Bertrand Gille Engineers of the Renaissance . II IIIII The M.I.T.Press Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts ' ... � {' ( l..-'1 b 1:-' TA18 .G!41J 1966 METtTLIBRARY En&Jneersor theRenaissance. 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 0020119043 Copyright @ 1966 by Hermann, Paris Translated from Les ingenieurs de la Renaissance published by Hermann, Paris, in 1964 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 66-27213 Printed in Great Britain Contents List of illustrations page 6 Preface 9 Chapter I The Weight of Tradition 15 2 The Weight of Civilization 3 5 3 The German School 55 4 The First Italian Generation 79 5 Francesco di Giorgio Martini 101 Cj 6 An Engineer's Career -Leonardo da Vinci 121 "'"" f:) 7 Leonardo da Vinci- Technician 143 ��"'t�; 8 Essay on Leonardo da Vinci's Method 171 �� w·· Research and Reality ' ·· 9 191 �' ll:"'t"- 10 The New Science 217 '"i ...........,_ .;::,. Conclusion 240 -... " Q: \.., Bibliography 242 �'� :::.(' Catalogue of Manuscripts 247 0 " .:; Index 254 � \j B- 13 da Page Leonardo Vinci: study of workers' positions. List of illustrations 18 Apollodorus ofDamascus: scaling machine. Apollodorus of Damascus: apparatus for pouring boiling liquid over ramparts. 19 Apollodorus ofDamascus: observation platform with protective shield. Apollodorus of Damascus: cover of a tortoise. Apollodorus ofDamascus: fire lit in a wall andfanned from a distance by bellows with a long nozzle. 20 Hero of Byzantium: assault tower. 21 Hero of :Byzantium: cover of a tortoise. 24 Villard de Honnecourt: hydraulic saw; 25 Villard de Honnecourt: pile saw. Villard de Honnecourt: screw-jack. , 26 Villard de Honnecourt: trebuchet. Villard de Honnecourt: mechanism of mobile angel. 27 Villard de Honnecourt: articulated eagle. 28 Guido da Vigevano: boat with propellers"" Guido da Vigevano: pivoting assault tower. 29 Guido da Vigevano: blown-up s� for crossing rivers. Guido da Vigeva!!o: assault tower with mobile platform. Guido da Vigevano: bridge floating on casks. 30 Guido da Vigevano: assault chariot with tower and cranking system. 31 da Guido Vigevano: chariot, fitted with scythes, pulled by oxen. 35 1507. Printing pre�s in 37 Spinning w!J,eel (English fourteenth-century MS). 41 The mills at Corbeil under Louis XI. 43 Glass-making in Bohemia- fifteenth century. 48 1396)., Chariot with movable front wheels (Carrara seal, Two-pedal treadle lathe (stained glass at Chartres). 49 Blast furnace (English drawing of sixteenth century). Pole lathe (French fourteenth-century MS). 51 Metallurgical workshops by H. Bles- sixteenth century. 57 \ German primitive: cannon with screw lift.· German primitive: trebuchet. 58 ribeaudequin Kyeser: with human face. ' , Kyeser: artillery-carrying chariot. (mus). Kyeser: shelter on wheels for miners and soldiers 59 , Kyeser: fantastic chariot. Kyeser: shelter. Kyeser: trebuchet. 6o ( ) Kyeser: fantastic ram cattHs . with Kyeser: cannon shelter.,' . , ., . Kyeser: trebuchet. ,' 6! Cann(jn( culy��)- K yeser: long-barrelled � t r:'.',:cX �� cannon:< Kyeser: rotating ' · hliu:I��!::All � p.n\ (t�cklea).. Kyeser: escalading 62 a11cl.a;V:hf�-P:�9J'9J:ea, ship. Kyeser: mobile b�ictges 63 � ::' Kyeser: part of a o � ,� itig�;bi �,%S}�;i/�.,,�Jc�"� i···, ,, ,--,,• .-,,'';c.. �·-·--·_ �> ,· . .,s >_;?l:�02�i�'�J.:Uc'J ", .. : : :�� Page 63 Kyeser: mill with overshot wheel. Page II4 Francesco di Giorgio: striking mechanism for clock. Kyeser: fight between divers. Francesco di Giorgio: multiple position lifting apparatus. 64 Kyeser: Archimedean screw. II5 Francesco di Giorgio: pile drivers. Hussite MS: horse carrying fire. II7 Francesco di Giorgio: column raising machine. II9 Fortress ofNettuno (1501-2). 65 Handmill in the castle at Sion in Switzerland: :fifteenth century. Fortress of Civitacastellana ( 1494-7). 66 E:yeser: raising apparatus with windmills. Fortress of Civitavecchia (1515). 67 The Lii.neburg crane. Fifteenth century. 122 Leonardo da Vinci: underwater breathing apparatus. 125 Leonardo da Vinci: assault chariot with guns. 68 Hussite MS: cannonwith lift. · Hussite MS: double lifting machine. Leonardo da Vinci: super cannon. 126 69 Hussite MS: machine for hollowing wooden pipes. Leonardo da Vinci: Hussite MS: machine for boring cannon. study for the casting of the horse of the Sforza statue. 129 Hussite MS: windmill. Leonardo da Vinci: bellows. 70 Hussite MS: diving suit. 134 Section of thegreat tower of Toulon (1514-24). 135 Chiteau d'If- fifteenth century. 71 Hussite MS: stone polishing machine. 137 Leonardo da Vinci: alembics Hussite MS: handmill with rod and crank system. 138 Lnnulae by Leonardo da Vinci. 72 Hussite MS: different types of flywheels. 144 Leonardo da Vinci: lifting-jack. 74 Heidelberg compilation: mobile crane. 145 Leonardo da Vinci: forging machine. 75 Munich MS: cannon. 146 Ship, 1493· 76 Munich MS: machine for boring cannon. c. 147 Early sixteenth-century ship. 8r Fontana: mechanism for automaton. Leonardo da Vinci: metal smelting furnaces. 82 Fontana: rock-clearing machine. 148 Leonardo da Vinci: types of fortification. 84 Taccola: ram� · 149 Pentagon for laying-out fortifications by Leonardo da Taccola: trebuchet. Vinci. Taccola: scaling machine. · 150 Leonardo da Vinci: types of fortification withfield of fire. 85 Taccola: machine for hollowing wooden pipes. 151 Leonardo da Vinci: drilling machine for wooden beams. Taccola: water-pump. Leonardo daVinci: building on different levek Taccola: suction and pressure pump. 152 Geometrical plan of a basilica by Leonardo da Vinci. 86 Taccola: hydraulic bellows. 153 Leonardo da Vinci: hoisting apparatus. 87 Tacc�la: destruction of a castle with mines and powder. 154 Leonardo da Vinci: parabolic swing bridge. 88 Evolution of chariot driven by windmills: · 155 Leonardo da Vinci: Archimedean screw and noria. Guido daVigevano. Leonardo da Vinci: machine for earthmoving. Valturio. 156 Leonardo da Vinci: dredger. Taccola. 157 Leonardo da Vinci: pincers. 89 Valturio: trebuchet. 158 Leonardo da Vinci: bow lathe. 91 Valturio: espringal. 159 Leonardo da Vinci: treadle lathe. 94 Filarete: refining oven. 160 Leonardo da Vinci: printing press. 96 Ghiberti: bellows. Leonardo da Vinci: machine for cutting wooden screws. Ghiberti: model for bell-making. 161 Leonardo da Vinci: mirror polishing apparatus. 97 N eroni: cannons 163 Various textile processes (fifteenth-century miniature). a. screw lift. b. quadrant lift. c. rack lift. 164 Leonardo da Vinci: automatic weaving machine. 99 Neroni: bellows. 165 Leonardo da Vinci: cloth carding machine. 107 Francesco di Giorgio: mine showing powder and 166 Leonardo da Vinci: cloth shearing machine. various instruments. 167 Leonardo da Vinci: machine for shearing caps. 109 Section of the San Michele tower at Ostiaby Michelangelo. 168 Leonardo da Vinci: studies for flying-machine. no Francesco di Giorgio: hydraulic turbine. 172 Leonardo da Vinci: types of gears. Francesco di Giorgio: types of gears. 173 Alignment of pinion axis in relation to the centre of the III Francesco di Giorgio: hydraulic saw. toothed-wheel and the effects of wear. Francesco di Giorgio: hand mill with ball g<;>ve�or. Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. II2 Francesco di Giorgio: 'automobile' vehicle. 175 Leonardo da Vinci: studies of transmission mechanisms. Page 178 Leonardo da Vinci: apparatus for measuring resistanceto traction. r 83 Action of falling water on a mill wheel by Leonardo da Vinci. r86 Leonardo da Vinci: windmill. Leonardo da Vinci: mechanical spit. r88 Leonardo da Vinci: stages in the construction of a steam engine. 193 The mine of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines by H. Gross - sixteenth century. 195 Mine working by Gassen, 1544. I96 Apparatus for polishing preciousstones (c. I470). _ 197 Agricola's reversible hoist (sixteenth century). 198 Biringuccio: reduction furnace. 199 Silk mill (Florentine MS. 1487). Loom (Nuremburg, end of fifteenth century). c 2or WelLat Orvieto constructe Lby San Gallo, c.r530. 203 Floods in the region of Dordrecht in 1421. 205 Dredger by Breughel the Younger- sixteenth century. 212 Section of the Langres bastion (about 1495). 213 Fortifications of La Fere (r540). Fortifications of Saint-Dizier (r544). 222 Diagramof a conical section after Durer. 223 Hollow polyhedron by Leonardo da Vinci. Hollow polyhedron by Leonardo da Vinci. 226 Trajectories of a cannon-ball by Leonardo da Vinci. 227 Attempt to determine the effects of percussion by Leonardo da Vinci. 233 Dondi: Clockwork mechanism (r340). Preface 9 Any study of the engineers of the Renaissance is inevitably domin­ ated and somewhat falsified by the great figure of Leonardo da Vinci. So many books have been written about him and so much praise has been meted out to him that his predecessors, and even his contemporaries, have sunk into oblivion. It is very difficult to re-establish them. There have been some attempts to strike a correct balance, but these, it seems, have failed. This view, persistent and widespread, has led us, after long and patient research, to attempt a more complete picture of the great movement of ideas that extends throughout the fifteenth century. We shall end up with a better understanding of the men whose writings Leonardo may not have read but whom he certainly met, listened to, and respected. The first stage in this study has therefore been devoted to the pre­ decessors of Leonardo da Vinci. It has been a thankless and difficult task, but an absorbing one. Our authors are very little known and willdoubtless long remain so, unless discoveries are made in libraries; their works,