Agostino Ramelli

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Agostino Ramelli

Agostino Ramelli (* 1531 in Ponte Tresa ; † 1600 in Paris ) was an engineer (place of origin Mesenzana ) who invented the book wheel . Today this is understood as a forerunner of hypertext . This novelty was one of many that he published in his only published work Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine .

Military career

Agostino Ramelli was an Italian engineer and architect who was in the military service of various rulers for a long time. Little is known about him as a person, as he embarked on a military career at an early age. He was a captain under Gian Giacomo Medici called il Medeghino, Marchese di Marignano, a commander under Emperor Charles V . Under the guidance of Marignano, he studies mathematics and war science. Marignan had studied either with Leonardo da Vinci himself or at least in his school at the Milan Academy of Sciences. In this respect, Ramelli is in a certain sense in Leonardo's successor. The Catholic Ramelli went to France like other Italian builders and engineers and fought against the Huguenots under the Duke of Anjou . In 1572 he took part in the occupation of La Rochelles as a military engineer . Ramelli was wounded on November 8, 1572 and was imprisoned for months. The Duke of Anjou successfully campaigned for Ramelli's release. With the coronation of the Duke of Anjou as king in 1574, Ramelli's position at the French court strengthened.

Ramelli was one of the prominent officers of the Catholic League. Its head was Henri III, who allied himself with Henri Navarre in the further course of the sectarian conflicts . After the murder of Henri III. Henri de Navarre was crowned King Henri IV of France in 1594. Ramelli managed to get hold of the new regent because his name was linked to the reconciliation with the Catholic League and to the Edict of Nantes .

Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine

In 1588 the Diverse Et Artificiose Machine appeared in Paris as Ramelli's only printed work at all. He drew important suggestions for this from the publications by Alessandro Piccolominis, Vitruv, Vannoccio Biringuccio, Georg Agricola and the older machine books by Besson and Errard. It can be assumed that the author wanted to present himself as an important technician with his show book and that one of the main purposes was Ramelli's self-promotion. Obviously, the author had the time and money to publish one of the most illustrated and extensive works in early modern technical literature. Ramelli must have had substantial financial resources to self-publish such a volume. Ramelli's book contains 195 copperplate engravings, 20 of which even take up a double page. These copper engravings had an unprecedented level of precision and were among the top achievements in French book art at the end of the 16th century.

More than half of all illustrations depict pumps and water wheels that serve as water lifting machines. These were of great importance for the flourishing court garden culture of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque period. A few years before the publication of the work, France's King Henry III. Enact regulations that should encourage the use of hydropower in industry.

Ramelli begins with a three-page dedication in Italian and its French translation. This is followed by an eight-page, also unpaginated, Italian foreword. Ramelli's paratext follows the preface. The idea of ​​the science competition is taken up again. The focus is on the presentation of the machines. Simple chapter numbers overwrite bilingual, initially one-page and then multi-page descriptions.

In research there is disagreement about the practical value of the work. Some appreciate the technical expertise of the Italian court architect and emphasize the precursor of many of his baroque models to today's real machine constructions. Others criticize the complexity of the mechanical devices and the flawedness, uselessness, or impracticability of many designs. Ramelli's complex-looking machines were less suitable for practical use. Your illustrations should entertain the buyers of the book.

Book wheel by Agostino Ramelli

Ramelli described various machines, including the book wheel and rotary piston-type water pumps, which are regarded as the forerunners of the Wankel engine . He also showed an amphibious chariot that was pulled ashore by horses and moved in the water with two paddle wheels by muscle power. His most famous invention, however, is the book wheel, a device that enables the reader to work almost simultaneously and flexibly on at least twelve books.

Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine is Ramelli's only published work. A manuscript from him dealing with timekeeping was never printed. This is kept in the Turin University Library. In addition, Ramelli mentions in his preface to his machine book that drawings and preparatory work for a book on fortification had been stolen from him. His longtime colleague Ambroise Bachot probably stole it from him. In his works Le Timon and Le Gouvernail there are engravings reminiscent of Ramelli.

Ramelli's work is one of the best-known and most widely used machine books that is still in many collections and libraries today.

Works

literature

  • Theodor Beck: Contributions to the history of mechanical engineering. Berlin / Heidelberg 1900, ISBN 978-3-642-51368-8 .
  • Lara Calderari: Agostino Ramelli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 23, 2010 , accessed January 31, 2020 .
  • Virgilio Chiesa : Lineamenti storici del Malcantone. Gaggini-Bizzozero, Curio 2002, 197.
  • Bert Hall: A Revolving Bookcase by Agostino Ramelli. In: Technology and Culture. Volume 11, No. 3, 1970, pp. 389-400.
  • Mario Otto Helbing: Information on Andrea Camuzio and Agostino Ramelli. In: Cultura d'élite e cultura popolare nell'arco alpino fra Cinque e Seicento. Edited by Ottavio Besomi, C. Caruso, 1995, pp. 191-201.
  • Helmut Hiltz: Theatrum Machinarum. The technical diary of the early modern era. Munich 2008.
  • Alexander Gustav Keller: A Theater of Machines. New York 1965.
  • Roland Lüthi: Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse et Artificiose Machine. Paris 1588, online
  • Agostino Ramell: Treasury of mechanical arts. [Reprint 1620], Hanover 1976, ISBN 3-87870-140-3 .
  • Nikola Roßbach: Poiesis of the machine. Baroque configurations of technology, literature and theater. Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-006368-3 .
  • Martha Teach Gnudi: Agostino Ramelli and Ambroise Bachot. In: Technology and Culture. Volume 15, No. 4, 1974, pp. 614-625.
  • Martha Teach Gnudi / Eugene S. Ferguson: Introduction. In: The Various and Ingenious Machines of Agostino Ramelli. A Classic Sixteenth-Century Illustrated Treatise on Technology, New York 1987, pp. 13-39.

Web links

Commons : Agostino Ramelli  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 69
  2. ↑ Beck. Contributions to the history of mechanical engineering. 1899, p. 207.
  3. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 71.
  4. ^ Teach Gnudi / Ferguson, Introduction. 1978, p. 13.
  5. ↑ Hiltz. Theatrum Machinarum. 2008. p. 36.
  6. ↑ Basement. A Theater of Machines. 1965. p. 8.
  7. ↑ Basement. A Theater of Machines. 1965. p. 8.
  8. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 71.
  9. ↑ Hiltz. Theatrum Machinarum. 2008, p. 36.
  10. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 71.
  11. ↑ Beck. Contributions to the history of mechanical engineering. 1899, p. 206.
  12. ↑ Hiltz. Theatrum Machinarum. 2008. p. 38.
  13. ↑ Hiltz. Theatrum Machinarum. 2008. p. 38.
  14. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 75.
  15. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 77.
  16. ↑ Hiltz. Theatrum Machinarum. 2008. p. 38.
  17. ↑ Rossbach. Agostino Ramelli: Le Diverse Et Artificiose Machine (1588). 2013. p. 81.
  18. ↑ Teach Gnudi. Agostino Ramelli and Ambroise Bachot. 1974, pp. 614-625.
  19. ↑ Beck. Contributions to the history of mechanical engineering. 1899, p. 208.
personal data
SURNAME Ramelli, Agostino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian engineer; Inventor of the book wheel
DATE OF BIRTH 1531
PLACE OF BIRTH Ponte Tresa
DATE OF DEATH 1600
Place of death Paris