Table Of ContentHistory of Mechanism and Machine Science 30
Michela Cigola Editor
Distinguished
Figures in Descriptive
Geometry and Its
Applications for
Mechanism Science
From the Middle Ages to the 17th
Century
History of Mechanism and Machine Science
Volume 30
Series editor
Marco Ceccarelli, Cassino, Italy
Aims and Scope of the Series
This book series aims to establish a well defined forum for Monographs and
ProceedingsontheHistoryofMechanismandMachineScience(MMS).Theseries
publishes works that give an overview of the historical developments, from the
earliest times up to and including the recent past, of MMS in all its technical
aspects.
Thistechnicalapproachisanessentialcharacteristicoftheseries.Bydiscussing
technicaldetailsandformulationsandevenreformulatingthoseintermsofmodern
formalisms the possibility is created not only to track the historical technical
developments but also to use past experiences in technical teaching and research
today. In order to do so, the emphasis must be on technical aspects rather than a
purely historical focus, although the latter has its place too.
Furthermore,theserieswillconsidertherepublicationofout-of-printolderworks
with English translation and comments.
Thebookseriesisintendedtocollecttechnicalviewsonhistoricaldevelopments
of the broad field of MMS in a unique frame that can be seen in its totality as an
EncyclopaediaoftheHistoryofMMSbutwiththeadditionalpurposeofarchiving
andteachingtheHistoryofMMS.Thereforethebookseriesisintendednotonlyfor
researchers of the History of Engineering but also for professionals and students
who are interested in obtaining a clear perspective of the past for their future
technicalworks.Thebookswillbewritteningeneralbyengineersbutnotonlyfor
engineers.
Prospective authors and editors can contact the series editor, Professor M.
Ceccarelli, about future publications within the series at:
LARM: Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics
DiMSAT—University of Cassino
Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino (Fr)
Italy
email: [email protected]
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7481
Michela Cigola
Editor
Distinguished Figures
in Descriptive Geometry
and Its Applications
for Mechanism Science
From the Middle Ages to the 17th Century
123
Editor
Michela Cigola
Department ofCivil andMechanical
Engineering
University of Cassino andSouthLatium
Cassino
Italy
ISSN 1875-3442 ISSN 1875-3426 (electronic)
History of Mechanism andMachineScience
ISBN978-3-319-20196-2 ISBN978-3-319-20197-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20197-9
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015944151
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
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Printedonacid-freepaper
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’
Series Editor s Preface
I am very happy, for the following reason, to present this impressive book in our
series.Itisafirstbookofaseriesofstoriesaboutnotableswhohavecontributedto
developments of Mechanisms and Machine Science (MMS) from the field of
DescriptiveGeometry.Itisimportanttorecognizethemeritsofthesepeopleandto
give proper credit for their achievements that are still of modern interest and
application.Thus,letushopetohavemoreofthesecontributionsthatareaimedat
building an encyclopaedia of who-is-who in the wide areas of MMS, in combi-
nation with the other series of ‘Distinguished Figures in MMS’. This book is a
brilliant example of the multidisciplinary content and interest in MMS.
In addition, as one looks at the outstanding names that appear in this book, a
readerwillfindalreadyfamousscientistspresentedwithnovelperspectivesontheir
activities, even highlighting aspects that elsewhere might be considered of minor
importance.Butthosecontributionsandeffortsweresignificantfortheevolutionof
MMS, both in theory and practice, with influential impact even in technological
developments. Similarly, some of these notables are presented for the first time in
MMS frames, bringing specific attention to outlining their achievements that still
have possibilities for modern implementation.
I am sure readers will not only find satisfaction in reading this book but will
receive inspiration and hope for more historical evaluations and technical
evolutions.
Thus, I congratulate the editor and authors of this book for the very interesting
results and I wish enjoyment to all its readers.
Cassino Marco Ceccarelli
March 2015 Chief Editor of Series on History of MMS
v
Contents
Descriptive Geometry and Mechanism Science from Antiquity
to the 17th Century: An Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Michela Cigola
Gerbert of Aurillac (c. 940–1003). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Carlo Bianchini and Luca J. Senatore
Francesco Feliciano De Scolari (1470–1542) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Arturo Gallozzi
Niccolò Tartaglia (1500c.–1557) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Alfonso Ippolito and Cristiana Bartolomei
Federico Commandino (1509–1575) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Ornella Zerlenga
Egnazio Danti (1536–1586). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Mario Centofanti
Guidobaldo Del Monte (1545–1607) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Barbara Aterini
Giovan Battista Aleotti (1546–1636) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Fabrizio I. Apollonio
Giovanni Pomodoro (XVI Century) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Stefano Brusaporci
Jacques Ozanam (1640–1718). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Cristina Càndito
vii
Descriptive Geometry and Mechanism
Science from Antiquity to the 17th
Century: An Introduction
Michela Cigola
Abstract The focus of this brief introduction is the common birth and parallel
destiny of Descriptive Geometry and Mechanism Science. This argument will
comparesomescientistsfromthechosenperiodwhocanbeconsideredofcommon
interest between the two disciplines, devoting a chapter to each of them. And
especiallyinthisintroductorychapterwewilldiscussfourmajorpersonalities,one
forAntiquity(Vitruvius),onefortheMiddleAges(VillarddeHonnecourt),onefor
the Renaissance (Filippo Brunelleschi), and finally one for the Baroque period
(Giovanni Branca).
Introduction
DescriptiveGeometryandAppliedMechanics,andmoreparticularlytheTheoryof
Mechanisms, which are at first sight disciplines belonging to separate and disjoint
fields, actually hide a common birth and parallel destiny.
Since ancient times, with Vitruvius and then in the Renaissance with
Brunelleschithetwodisciplinesbegantoshareacommondirectionwhich,overthe
centuries,tookshapethroughlesswell-knownfiguresuntilthemorerecenttimesin
which Gaspard Monge worked.
Understood in its modern sense, the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms can
betracedbacktothefoundingoftheÉcolePolytechniqueinParisandparticularly
to Monge and Hachette, personalities who made a fundamental contribution to the
development of Descriptive Geometry.
Over the years, a gap has been created between the two disciplines, which now
appear to belong to different worlds. In reality, however, there is a very close
relationshipbetweenDescriptiveGeometryandAppliedMechanics,alinkbasedon
M.Cigola(&)
DART-LaboratoryofDocumentation,Analisys,SurveyofArchitecture&Territory,
DepartmentofCivil&MechanicalEngineering-UniversityofCassino&SouthernLatium,
viaG.DiBiasio43,03043Cassino,Italy
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016 1
M.Cigola(ed.),DistinguishedFiguresinDescriptiveGeometry
andItsApplicationsforMechanismScience,HistoryofMechanism
andMachineScience30,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-20197-9_1
2 M.Cigola
extremely solid foundations; just think that without the theoretical foundations of
geometry it would not be possible to draw and design mechanical parts such as
gears,whileinkinematicsitwouldbelesseasytodesignandpredictthereciprocal
movements of the parts in a complex mechanical assembly (Fig. 1).
Thereafter, a long list of scholars can be identified who spanned the two dis-
ciplines, studying and researching in Descriptive Geometry and Mechanics in
alternatingphasesoftheirscientificpaths,andwhowereauthorsofbooksinoneor
another subject matter.
In this book we will try to better delineate this matter, considering some sci-
entistsfromthechosenperiodwhocanbeconsideredofcommoninterest between
the two disciplines, devoting a chapter to each of them. And especially in this
introductory chapter we will discuss four major personalities, one for Antiquity
(Vitruvius),onefortheMiddleAges(VillarddeHonnecourt),onetheRenaissance
(Filippo Brunelleschi), and finally one for the Baroque period (Giovanni Branca).
In our discussion we will try not to lose sight of the development of the two
disciplines, devoting to each personality a brief summary that puts their contribu-
tiontothestateoftheart ofthetimeintoproper context.Continuing ourresearch,
we will make use of the representations that our authors include in their works,
Fig.1 Graphic
representationofkinematic
schemeofmotion,in
“Cinematicadellabiella
piana”,1895byL.Allievi,
Fig.27
DescriptiveGeometryandMechanismSciencefromAntiquity… 3
analysing alternately drawings of machines and architectural drawings, or func-
tional representations in geometric theories.
Theanalysesofthesegraphicalrepresentations(whichareoftendesignprojects)
will also lead us to talking about drawings, analysing wherein at times the two
disciplinesintertwineandsometimesconfronteachother,becausetheywerealways
deeply rooted in the culture of their epochs.
Infact,theory,basedonpureknowledgeandtechnology,basedonexperiments,
for centuries remained two opposite worlds. Since ancient times, in the wake of
Aristotelian philosophy, theory was the domain of those who in the Middle Ages
were called practitioners of the “liberal arts”, while technology belonged to the
“mechanical arts”.
In later times, enlargement of the terrestrial and celestial worlds, happening
between400and700duetogeographicalandastronomicaldiscoveries,triggereda
profound ideological change that accompanies the early developments of technol-
ogy; a new philosophical interpretation of the mechanical arts makes its début—a
way of knowing linked to active exploration of the nature that exceeds the
Aristotelian concept of contemplative science.
Technologicaldevelopmenthasineveryagegreatlyinfluenced evolutionofthe
representation of design sketches, whether it was related to the representation of
architecture or if it was an expression of a project related to mechanics. In par-
ticular, the drawings of mechanical elements such as mechanisms, from an initial,
highly descriptive, representation, has evolved towards an ever greater clarity of
representation that would facilitate a rapid and unequivocal interpretation.
In fact, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, technical drawing in general
and especially that of machines and mechanisms, is not an autonomous encoded
language but a figurative representation of an object that only rarely turns into a
schematic simplification, with the use of some simple convention that is tradi-
tionally applied but not formally declared; in addition, there was still a deeply
rootedbeliefthatornamentationenhancesthevalueofthematerial,andthebeauty
of its use.
Technical drawing in today’s sense comes only with the Industrial Revolution,
when production is broken down into various structural levels and the use of the
executive project rather than summary schematisation is introduced to clarify the
features and perform the design calculations.
On the other hand, in terms of Descriptive Geometry, the situation is certainly
more complex.
On the one hand, it can be considered as a discipline that collects in an organic
whole the rules devised by painters and designers to delineate on a flat surface
certainfiguresthatarefaithfulimagesofobjectsinthreedimensions.Inthiscase,it
is obvious that its origins date back to the origin of man. This understanding of
geometry will lead to the development of perspective in painting, with the funda-
mentalcontributionofBrunelleschiand,forarchitecture,refinementoftherulesfor
the representation of construction projects, whose development is still ongoing
today.
