Bookwheel at the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico.
Centuries ago, academics had an alternative to juggling several tomes and propping them open all over a table.
Others believe a similar equipment was conceived in China a thousand years before Ramelli’s concept.
Bookwheel at the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico. (Photo: Luis Alvaz viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
Still, his idea prompted other engineers to build their own.
The unit was praised for its accessibility, as it made studying easier for people with conditions like gout.
The cleverness of these devices has also inspired contemporary engineers to create their own bookwheels.
A bookwheel at the Jagiellonian University Museum (Collegium Maius) in Kraków, Poland.(Photo: Bassschlüssel viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
For all the state-of-the-art prowess, each wheel ended up a towering 600-pound equipment.
The bookwheel is a rotating machine that allows people to browse multiple books at once.
A bookwheel at the Jagiellonian University Museum (Collegium Maius) in Krakow, Poland.
Nicolas Grollier de Serviere’s Reading Wheel. Illustration from Recueil d’Ouvrages Curieux de Mathematique et de Mecanique, ou Description du Cabinet de Monsieur Grollier de Serviere, 1719. (Photo: Gaspard Grollier de Serviere viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Nicolas Grollier de Serviere’s Reading Wheel.
Figure CLXXXVIII in Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli,' an illustration of a bookwheel.
Book wheel made of oak, built for Duke August after 1625.
Figure CLXXXVIII in ‘Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli,' an illustration of a bookwheel. (Photo: Agostino Ramelli de Serviere viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Bookwheel at the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico.
Book wheel made of oak, built for Duke August after 1625. (Photo: Kerstin Namuth viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
Bookwheel at the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico. (Photo: PaulAsimov viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
