Eight Books on Mechanics, in which, by one and the same principle of the lever, the forces of machines are physically explained and geometrically demonstrated, and a method of composing machines of every kind is set forth

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Original title: Mechanicorum libri octo, in quibus uno eodemque principio vectis machinarum vires physice explicantur & geometrice demonstrantur, atque earum omnis generis componendarum methodus proponitur A systematic Latin didactic treatise on mechanics in eight books, written in the mixed-mathematical tradition (with occasional Greek lemmas). It reduces every simple machine—the lever, pulley, wheel and axle, wedge, and screw—to a single principle of the lever, whereby advantage gained in weight is paid for exactly in velocity, a proportion Casati calls a perpetua quædam justitia. The work couples Archimedean geometric demonstration with a physical account of natural and forced motion cast in the scholastic vocabulary of impetus, defends a positive levity as a real quality, and organizes its material into chapters rather than theorems. Book I treats gravity, positive levity, and the centre of gravity; Book II sets out the physics of impetus and a general theory of machines; Book III the balance; Book IV the lever and its applications; Book V the axle-in-wheel; Book VI the pulley; Book VII the wedge and percussion; and Book VIII the screw, judged the most efficacious faculty. It is dedicated to Louis XIV and distills decades of Casati's lecture courses at the Collegio Romano. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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R. P. PAULI CASATI MECHANICA. Early European Books, Copyright 2011 ProQuest LLC. Images reproduced by courtesy of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. CFMAGL. 1.6.199