The Voynich Ninja

Manuscript germ. qu. 14 has image of some pipes decorated with dots. The folks in the image are producing saltpeter. Does anybody know what the dotted pipes are used for?
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(05-02-2016, 10:08 PM)EllieV Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Manuscript germ. qu. 14 has image of some pipes decorated with dots. The folks in the image are producing saltpeter. Does anybody know what the dotted pipes are used for?
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They used a lot of different materials for making gunpowder and fireworks which became hugely popular around the 16th century (I can't remember exactly when). To process the saltpeter, they used various liquids (various liquors, sometimes blood), ashes, sometimes vegetable matter.

Which makes me wonder if those tubes/pipes/containers in the picture might be made of ceramics, since they are constructed differently from the barrels on the ground, which would make them suitable for storing damp items. Someone who's studied the history of pyrotechnics may know what specific kinds of containers they used.


The pipes in the VMS often remind me of the pipes that were left over from the old Roman aqueducts which, I believe, were ceramic.

(05-02-2016, 11:00 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes in the VMS often remind me of the pipes that were left over from the old Roman aqueducts which, I believe, were ceramic.

Thanks. I agree. I also thought the VMs pipes are water pipes - most of them appear on the page where the kidneys maybe represented - so I thought: kidneys - the human "water-pipes" system.
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 The other place they appear is the calendar - the Piesces rosette - so I thought that the fallen barrels (water pipes?) may be the missing Aquarius (the water bearer)
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However, the VMs pipes have this dotted pattern and I can't find such water pipes.

The pipes in the German manuscript -   is it possible they were used in the process of drying the saltpeter? Something that has holes to help vent?

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(05-02-2016, 11:00 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes in the VMS often remind me of the pipes that were left over from the old Roman aqueducts which, I believe, were ceramic.

Here is how the water supply pipes look in the same manuscript. They are colored the same as the dotted pipes - but no dots. How did they supply those castles in the Alps with water? Did they dig wells or had aqueducts?

(05-02-2016, 11:49 PM)EllieV Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes in the German manuscript -   is it possible they were used in the process of drying the saltpeter? Something that has holes to help vent?

That's definitely a possibility.

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(05-02-2016, 11:00 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes in the VMS often remind me of the pipes that were left over from the old Roman aqueducts which, I believe, were ceramic.

Here is how the water supply pipes look in the same manuscript. They are colored the same as the dotted pipes - but no dots. How did they supply those castles in the Alps with water? Did they dig wells or had aqueducts?

There were some aqueducts that supplied water to hilly places using water pumps along river (they look like flour mills in the old pictures but some of them are water pumps) but they couldn't raise the level of the water very much. Mostly they supplied water via gravity for downstream/downhill communities.

I think the water for berg-castles/mountain castles (which I think were called burgs in the middle ages—a term that became a more general name for a town later on) mostly came from springs and wells tapping into the springs. When I was looking for old buildings, I discovered many hill towns that were abandoned and have been for centuries. I wonder if the people left because the water supply ran out.

The pipes were used in the crystallization of the saltpetre, cp. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , especially p. 29

(06-02-2016, 08:58 AM)Helmut Winkler Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes were used in the crystallization of the saltpetre, cp. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , especially p. 29

Thanks Helmut!!!!!! I did start learning German, but so far I can count to 100 and ask Was ist das with no chance of understanding the answer unless it is an apple, dog or cat What were those pipes called and were they used for other purposes or are they specific equipment for production of saltpeter?
Thanks in advance!

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(06-02-2016, 08:58 AM)Helmut Winkler Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The pipes were used in the crystallization of the saltpetre, cp. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , especially p. 29

According to the pdf these are perforated clay pipes? Did I understand correctly? Today such pipes are used in drainage, but I am not sure they were used the similar way in 15th century.

According to the pdf ...
You are quite  correct. It is Recipe 117 over Abb. 6 ( from Cpg 122  f. 7v/8r, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )
Very free translation:
How to make saltpetre in a way to let it grow better than on a wall. If you want s. growung better than on a wall I ask you to make a pipe as big as you want it  which must be full of small holes.  ...(Mix up the ingredients and fill them into the pipe, hang it three days into the sun, empty fluid out) ... And hang it into a cellar and you will have a  good growing of s.
As far as I know clay pipes were not used in the  Middle Ages for drainage, only open ditches.

(07-02-2016, 01:33 PM)Helmut Winkler Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.According to the pdf ...
You are quite  correct. It is Recipe 117 over Abb. 6 ( from Cpg 122  f. 7v/8r, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )
Very free translation:
How to make saltpetre in a way to let it grow better than on a wall. If you want s. growung better than on a wall I ask you to make a pipe as big as you want it  which must be full of small holes.  ...(Mix up the ingredients and fill them into the pipe, hang it three days into the sun, empty fluid out) ... And hang it into a cellar and you will have a  good growing of s.
As far as I know clay pipes were not used in the  Middle Ages for drainage, only open ditches.

Thanks Helmut, great help!

I did not read the other postings text in detail, 
but the things above in your picture, those are tree logs.

During those days they use guts / intestines from a pig for example

Other examples from a 1594 book about fire-arms.
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