Plumb Level
From Inventions
Also "archipenzolo". Name commonly used since the fifteenth century, as translation into the vernacular of the Latin "libella".
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Description
Levelling instrument. Of ancient origin, this kind of square with plumb bob is one of the basic tools of masonry, used mainly to check brick-laying and verify horizontal planes. It was also widely used in hydraulic engineering, for levelling channels, and in the military field for aiming cannons.
Existing Instruments
- Museo Galileo, Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 3689.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 670.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 2531.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 3184.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 3690.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 654.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 702.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 3604.
Florence, Museo Galileo. Institute and Museum of the History of Science, inv. 2539.
- Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 39777
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 43341
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 46529
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 47145
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 47279
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 52061
- The Science Museum, London
The Science museum, "Roads and road-building tools, 1838"
Links (External)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/254115/hand-tool/39230/Measuring-and-defining-tools (English)
Images
 Funerary monument of Lucius Alfius Statius (detail), on which are carved a Roman two-foot rule, an archipenzolo (plumb level), a compass, a square and a hammer. Aquileia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale. |
 Nicolas Bion. Traité de la construction et des principaux usages des instruments de mathematique, Paris, 1725, tav. 18. |
Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota
