Archipendulum
Sign in to saveAlso known as perpendiculum, archipendolo
thumb| thumb The archipendulum is an ancient ancestor of the spirit level and astrolabe, and was used to check whether a line was horizontal or at a desired inclination. It consisted of a handheld A-shaped construction with a plumbline suspended from the top vertex. The horizontal bar of the A was marked at its midpoint, so that the plumbline's coincidence with this point indicated that the bases of the two legs were at the same level. Other gradations on the horizontal bar enabled the user to construct or verify inclined lines. The same methods of use apply to the inverted 'T' which is simply
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 4 inbound references to Archipendulum, and connects out to International Standard Book Number, Leon Battista Alberti and Egyptian pyramids.
It is catalogued under the topic Inclinometers.
Vinony links it to 8 Wikipedia language editions.
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- Wirtschaftsgebäude Wurzer (TKK 144159), Außervillgraten, Winkeltal 114, Osttirol 43.jpg
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thumb| thumb The archipendulum is an ancient ancestor of the spirit level and astrolabe, and was used to check whether a line was horizontal or at a desired inclination. It consisted of a handheld A-shaped construction with a plumbline suspended from the top vertex. The horizontal bar of the A was marked at its midpoint, so that the plumbline's coincidence with this point indicated that the bases of the two legs were at the same level. Other gradations on the horizontal bar enabled the user to construct or verify inclined lines. The same methods of use apply to the inverted 'T' which is simply another variant of the archipendulum.
Used by the builders of the Egyptian pyramids and from the Indian subcontinent, it was more recently described by Johann Heinrich Alsted and Leon Battista Alberti.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Archipendulum” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.