Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Line-dividing engine
    • Setting:
      Room X
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Place:
      Florence
    • Date:
      second half 18th cent.
    • Materials:
      wood, brass
    • Dimensions:
      1020x730x1300 mm
    • Inventory:
      1023, 3244, 3368
    • Line-dividing engine (Inv. 1023, 3244, 3368)

This dividing engine, built in the workshop of the Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale, was used to mark divisions on rectilinear scales such as thermometric and barometric scales. Its features resemble those of the model designed by the Duc de Chaulnes. It consists of a micrometric screw rotated by means of a handle fitted with an index and graduated scale. The rotation moved forward a board holding the piece on which the scale was to be engraved. The markings were engraved by a point mounted in a frame.