Straps and Ratchet Apparatus, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XXXII, circa 1772

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with four numbered figures of an apparatus of straps and winding gear. Fig. 1 is a pair of broad stitched straps with four buckles at one end and long tails at the other; one strap has a cut opening with a raised pad, the other carries a winding mechanism with a toothed wheel and a roller. Fig. 2 is a soft slipper with a long strap running from the heel and looping back on itself. Fig. 3 is a winding device on a base plate pierced for screws: a roller between two uprights, turned by a toothed ratchet wheel with a square socket and held by a pawl. Fig. 4 is a winding key with a scroll handle, drawn beside a detached ratchet wheel segment and its pawl and spring.

The plate number "Pl. XXXII." is lettered at the top right outside the border, the section title "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "95." at the lower left. No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right.

The plate belongs to the Chirurgie section of the Recueil de planches, the plate volumes of the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, in the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert between 1771 and 1778. Its figures are numbered and keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume.

It pairs naturally with other Chirurgie plates for a coordinated group in a study or consulting room.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.