Brunelleschi's horizontal arches and related devices / Thomas B. Settle.
Abstract:
In order to achieve a pre-set external shape for the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi had to adopt a highly unusual form of masonry. In turn this required him to invent special equipment and techniques that would permit the realization of that form. Among those items were the horizontal arches in the Cupola; here an investigation of those arches leads to a suggested reconstruction of the ways in which they and other devices functioned in the day to day processes of construction
Annali dell'Istituto e Museo di storia della scienza di Firenze A. 3, fasc. 1 (1978), p. 65-80