Folding Square
From Inventions
Name in use since the 16th century (documented, for example, by Giovanni Pomodoro).
Description
Synonymous with altazimuth square, the instrument is generally composed of two arms hinged like a compass. Designed especially to measure acute and obtuse angles, the folding square was utilized in architectural drawing, surveying and fabricating oblique-angle architectural elements. For surveying, it was usually fitted with a compass in the joint. A more elaborate variant that also served as proportional compasses was proposed by Andreas Albrecht as an instrument specifically designed for architectural drawing.
Bibliographical Resources
Leonardo da Vinci, Il Codice Atlantico della Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano, Trascrizione critica Augusto Marinoni, presentazione Carlo Pedretti, nota alla trascrizione Pietro C. Marani. Firenze, Giunti, 2006, c. 361r.
Dürer, Albrecht, Underweysung der messung mit dem zirckel und richtscheyt in linien, ebnen unnd gantzen corporen, durch Albrecht Dürer zusamen getzogen und zu nutz allen kunstliebhabenden mit zu gehörigen figuren in truck gebracht im jar 1525, Nürnberg, 1525, III.
Dürer, Albrecht. Albertus Durerus nurembergensis pictor huius aetatis celeberrimus, versus è Germanica lingua in Latinam, pictoribus, fabris aerariis ac lignariis, lapicidis, statuariis, et universis demùm qui circino, gnomone, libella, aut alioqui certam mensuram opera sua examinant propè necessarius, adeò exacte, quatuor his suarum institutionum geometricarum libris, lineas, superficies et solida corpora tractavit, ad hibitis designationibus ad eam rem accommodissimis, Pariis, ex Officina C. Wechelii, 1535.
Dürer, Albrecht, Underweysung der Messung, mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt in Linien Ebnen vo gantzen Corporen, Nürenberg, durch Hieronymum Formschneyder, 1538.
Pomodoro, Giovanni, Geometria prattica tratta dagl'Elementi d'Euclide ed altri auttori, Roma, appresso Stefano de' Paulini, 1599.
Albrecht, Andreas, Instrument zur Architectur, Norimberga, 1622.
Existing Instruments
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 1292.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 3629.
Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota
