Wayne Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Hi All I found this book on the smithsonian web site. http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Besson/besson-toc.htm There are some wonderfull pieces of equipment shown - counter weight forge bellows, Trip hammer, saw mills and lathes along with a load of other stuff. Just follow the prompts for each page, if you screen looks blank just scroll don the screen as the book appears on the bottom half. The only down side is that the first 12 - 15 pages are blank and you cannot rapid scroll through these. It just goes to show are forebears werenot as backwards as people think. Enjoy Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I forgot to add, the images do not start too appear until about page 35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Once you open the first page,go to it's bottom and click on "structure" the open drop down of "plates" and choose the one you'd like to see. They are then sequential form where you started. Love the hand crank saw mills!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 My favorite's the treadle lathe. Great illustrations, but my Latin just plain isn't up to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 De Re Metallica, Agricola, does a great job of showing off how inventive humans were in the mid 16th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Were those designs all in use or are they just designs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hi Mac, Well there is a German wood cut of a screw cutting lathe from the 1470's and if you look in the works of Diderot from the 18th century you will find a similar form of blacksmiths hammer but with an iron/steel frame instead of the wooden one. Diderot also shows pile drivers, cranes and other tools. Leonardo designed a machine for cutting teeth into files, and the works of Berringucio - late 15th earl16th century are a host of illustrations showing different designs for powered bellows on forges and smelting hearths. As for De Re metalica you have water powered bellows and a whole range of designs for mining machinery. These were the people building great structures and developing the science and mathamatics we still use today, I think we often do these people a great disservice in thinking they were less capable than us - we use machines with so much horse power, they used horses. So I would think most if not all of those designs were in use. Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher M Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 They seem so Rube Goldberg ish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Well life was pretty much Rube Goldberg back then anyway, you just put together whatever worked for you. There were no manufacturers of tooling on large scale like there is now. Interesting plates, I sent the link to a friend of mine that has been wanting to build a spring pole lathe and I though that bow was a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 I always loved the water powered elevator in De Re Metallica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.