Odometer

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Revision as of 08:02, 8 September 2010

Name in use since antiquity, derived from the Greek hodos (road) and metron (measure).

Description

Word of Greek origin meaning "road measurement." The instrument is used to measure the distance travelled by a vehicle. Described by Vitruvius in De architectura (1st C. B.C.E.) and later by Hero of Alexandria (1st C. C.E.). In the Renaissance, different types of odometers were designed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), among others. The device onsists of a revolution counter attached to a wheel dragged by hand or fastened to a horse or vehicle. The distance travelled was obtained by multiplying the circumference of the wheel by the number of revolutions.

Existing Instruments

- Museo Galileo, Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence
Firenze, Museo Galileo - Istituto di Storia della Scienza, Inv. 648
Firenze, Museo Galileo - Istituto di Storia della Scienza, Inv. 2641
Firenze, Museo Galileo - Istituto di Storia della Scienza, Inv. 3384

- Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. 12871

Links (External)

http://www.archimedesclock.gr/eng/kataskeves/metritika/odometro.html (Italian)
http://www.techno-science.net/?onglet=glossaire&definition=13517 (French)

Images

Cosimo Bartoli. Opuscoli morali di Leon Battista Alberti ... : ne' quali si contengono molti ammaestramenti necessarij al viuer de l'homo così posto in dignità come priuato, Venezia, 1568, p.252

Buonaiuto Lorini. Le fortificationi di Buonaiuto Lorini, nobile fiorentino. Nuouamente ristampate, corrette & ampliate di tutto quello che mancaua per la lor compita perfettione, con l'aggiunta del sesto libro. Doue si mostra, con la scienza, e con la pratica, l'ordine di fortificare le città, & altri luoghi, Venezia, 1609, p. 104r.

Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota