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Giovanni Branca (22 April 1571 – 24 January 1645) was an Italian
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, chiefly remembered today for what some commentators have taken to be an early
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
.


Life

Branca was born on 22 April 1571 in
Sant'Angelo in Lizzola Sant'Angelo in Lizzola is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune '' of Vallefoglia in the province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethni ...
. From 1616 Branca was employed at the Sacra Casa (Virgin’s Holy House) in Loreto. He was made a citizen of Rome in 1622. He died on 24 January 1645 in Loreto.


Le Machine

Branca designed many different mechanical inventions, a collection of which he dedicated to Cenci, the governor of Loreto, Ancona. These were later published in book form at Rome in 1629, under the title ''Le machine''. The work contains 63 engravings with descriptions in Italian and Latin and was an example of the ''Theater of machines'' genre which had appeared in the 16th century, named after
Jacques Besson Jacques Besson (1540?–1573) was a French Protestant inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' (1571–1572), which saw many reprints in different languages. Li ...
's ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' of 1571. However, where Besson's book had been beautifully illustrated with engravings, Branca's book was a small
octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...
volume illustrated with relatively poor quality
woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s. Unlike earlier authors, Branca did not claim to be the creator of many of the machines and in one instance is even uncertain over how the machine in question is supposed to work. In the words of historian Alex Keller, his machines "look like armchair inventions which seldom ever had any three-dimensional working counterparts". Branca's so-called
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
appears as the 25th plate in ''Le Machine''. It comprises a wheel with flat vanes like a paddlewheel, shown being rotated by steam produced in a closed vessel and directed at the vanes through a pipe (and hence would be more appropriately called a
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
). Branca suggested that it might be used for powering pestles and mortars, grinding machines, raising water, and sawing wood. It bears no relation to any later application of steam power and is not much of an advance over the
aeolipile An aeolipile, aeolipyle, or eolipile, from the Greek "αιολουπυλη", also known as a Hero's engine, is a simple, bladeless radial steam turbine which spins when the central water container is heated. Torque is produced by steam jets exi ...
described by
Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greece, Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egy ...
in the first century AD.


Manuale d’Architettura

Branca's ''Manuale d’Architettura'', published in 1629, was a practical guide for planning and construction and is considered the first "pocket" architectural handbook. Branca's experience as an architect was due to his posting as superintendent of works of the ''Sacra Casa'' in Loreto, to which he was appointed by the Duke of Urbino. Most of his architectural works are the detailed architectural renderings of
Jacques Besson Jacques Besson (1540?–1573) was a French Protestant inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' (1571–1572), which saw many reprints in different languages. Li ...
and
Androuet du Cerceau Androuet du Cerceau was a family of French architects and designers active in the 16th and early 17th century. Family members include: * Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau (1510–1584), architect, designer, and engraver * Baptiste Androuet du Cerc ...
. It was republished in 1772 by Leonardo de Vegni. Branca communicated with
Benedetto Castelli Benedetto Castelli (1578 – 9 April 1643), born Antonio Castelli, was an Italian mathematician. Benedetto was his name in religion on entering the Benedictine Order in 1595. Life Born in Brescia, Castelli studied at the University of Padua and l ...
and references his work in the last chapter of the ''Manuale'', a chapter about rivers. Castelli, often considered to be the founder of the field of
hydrodynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...
, wrote to Branca urging him to defend himself against naïve or interested parties such as the Venetians who had rejected Castelli’s opinions as to why their
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
s were silting. On another occasion, Branca wrote to Castelli regarding a design for a nozzle for an inverted
siphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...
to be installed in a fountain. Castelli also witnessed the ecclesiastical innocence of ''Le Machine'' for the inquisition.


Influence of Branca's work

It is unclear how influential Branca’s work was. But it was known that
Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
owned a copy of Branca’s work. In 1789,
Giuseppe Maria Soli Giuseppe Maria Soli (23 June 1747 – 20 October 1822) was an Italian architect. Biography He was born in Vignola to a peasant family, and after taking note of his talent, Count Malvasia patronized his education at the Academy of Fine Arts of B ...
of Modena republished Branca's ''Manual of Architecture''.Dizionario biografico universale
Volume 5, by Felice Scifoni, Publisher Davide Passagli, Florence (1849); page 123.


See also

*
Jacques Besson Jacques Besson (1540?–1573) was a French Protestant inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' (1571–1572), which saw many reprints in different languages. Li ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branca, Giovanni 1571 births 1645 deaths People from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino 17th-century Italian inventors 16th-century Italian architects 17th-century Italian architects Italian Renaissance architects Italian architecture writers Italian engineers Steam engine engineers