Instrument for Plane Anamorphosis
From Inventions
Has no specific name.
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Inventor
Jacob Leupold (1674-1727)
Historic Period
1713
Description
Rare instrument for drawing flat anamorphoses starting from a given drawing. The instrument is composed of two horizontal rods connected by wires to two pulleys of different diameters. The shorter rod follows the contours of the given drawing; it is connected to the smaller pulley, pivoting at the centre of the larger one. Each sliding of this rod is matched by a rotation of the pulleys that causes the longer rod to slide, tracing the contours of the anamorphic drawing. The pulleys are pivoted inside a vertical rod with a metal tip at the base to be stuck into the drawing board. Geometrically speaking, this point is the centre of projection from which radiate the various lines visualized by the two sliding rods. Due to the different diameters of the pulleys, the further the indicator on the shorter rod moves away from the centre of projection, the more the pen point advances on the longer rod at ever greater increments. The resulting drawing is thus a deformed copy of the original, a flat anamorphoses that shows an object in its correct proportions only when observed from a viewing point coinciding with the centre of projection.
Bibliographical Resources
Leupold, Jacob. Anamorfosi mechanica nova, oder Beschreibung dreyer neuen Maschinen, Leipzig, 1713.
Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota
