Question

In 1603, German astronomer Christoph Scheiner began to copy and scale diagrams using an instrument that came to be known as the pantograph. By moving a pencil attached to a mechanical assembly, Scheiner was able to produce a second image that was identical to the first but enlarged.
Do some brief research on Scheiner’s invention. What shape is the mechanical assembly based on? How does the operation of the pantograph relate to dilations and similarity?

Answer 1

It should be noted that a pantograph consists of four rods that are joined together in order to form a parallelogram with the joints varying in relation to the scale of reproduction.

Pantograph

In a pantograph, the mechanical assembly is based on the shape of a parallelogram.

It should be noted that the operation of a pantograph can be related to dilation as it has a fixed center and two points which are a drypoint that follows the contour of the original drawing, as well as a pen point that traces the reproduction in an enlarged or reduced form.

In order to enlarge a drawing, the index is positioned between the fixed center and the pen. Therefore, to reduce it, the pen is set between the fixed center and the index.

Lastly, to copy a drawing on the same scale, it can be deduced that the index and the pen are equidistant from the fixed center.

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