RIT's Reading Wheel after Ramelli: How It's Made

A bookwheel, or reading wheel, is a rotating bookcase which allows the user to read multiple books in one location without needing to lift the books. The first bookwheel was designed in the 16th century by Agostino Ramelli, an Italian engineer. His version of the bookwheel rotates books vertically around an axis, utilizing epicyclic gears to keep books at a constant angle when rotated.

During 2018, two reading wheels were constructed by students in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology: Ian Kurtz, Reese Salen, Matt Nygren, and Maher Abdelkawi.

This video helps visitors to the bookwheel more thoroughly by taking a look at "How It's Made."

The video was created in January/February 2019 by the following RIT museum studies students: Olivia (OJ) Simmons,
Samantha Cleveland, John Adil, and Carmen Lopez.

For more information on the wheel and related context, see https://caryprojects.wordpress.com/, a site created by Kate MacLaren, a fourth-year museum studies major at RIT.