From Popular Mechanics.com:
Half a millennium after Leonardo da Vinci's death, his influence is alive and well in many of the modern machines we see and use every day. An inventor, engineer, scientist, and artist, da Vinci was the quintessential Renaissance Man, and one of history's brightest minds. Not only did he have the vision to create early versions of game-changing modern gadgets, but he was also the extremely gifted painter who birthed the world's most famous work of art, the Mona Lisa, and the equally iconic Last Supper.
"He was the first to insist that mechanical devices should be designed in keeping with the laws of nature," says Martin Kemp, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Oxford University and a leading expert on da Vinci. "He was also the first to design separate components, which could be deployed in various machines," Kemp tells Popular Mechanics.
da Vinci's genius lies in the fact that each of his inventions is a direct predecessor to the common tools and machines we use today. As we mark exactly 500 years after his death, we celebrate da Vinci's most influential creations and the impact they made.
Perpetual Motion Models
da Vinci's life was dedicated to studying the machinations of the world around him. He observed nature and studied art and science to gain insight about function, physiology, and motion.
His quest for knowledge led him to discover what would become Newton's Third Law (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) nearly 200 years before Newton was even born—a prime example showing how far ahead of his time da Vinci was.
Because of Newton's Third Law, da Vinci realized none of his motion models would work and did not pursue building them.
Gear Systems
da Vinci is credited as being the first person to take an in-depth look at the machinations of gears. He drew designs for gear wheels and even created a sketch of a landing gear for an aircraft.
He left many unfinished projects behind and missed out on bringing some of his sketches to life. Luckily, public interest in his work is alive and well and over time, many of his machines have been executed by curious minds.
Many of da Vinci's inventions contained and depended on gears to function, including his giant crossbow and self-propelled cart.
Self-Propelled Cart
da Vinci created what some consider to be the world's first "car." The cart moved with the help of springs and had the capability for steering (although it was limited) and braking.
This was yet another invention that da Vinci never got to test out. In 2004, Paolo Galluzzi, Director of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, and a team set to bring da Vinci's drawing to life.
Their efforts were a success and showed that the cart operated similarly to wind-up toys, which require their wheels to be rotated in order for the springs to jump into action.
The Giant Crossbow
da Vinci was a go-big-or-go-home kind of guy, as evidenced by the gigantic crossbow he sketched in the mid 1480s. As you can see by the figure standing next to the crossbow, it was huge.
The crossbow featured a crank and gear system that could be launched by using a mallet to hammer at a pin that would set the bow off.
da Vinci's ballista was designed for large projectiles like boulders and explosives and to frighten the enemy (due to the sheer size of the thing).
The Ornithopter
'Ornithopter' comes from the Greek 'ornithos' (bird) and 'pteron' (wing). It describes a machine that's able to achieve flight by flapping wing-like structures.
This is one instance where someone else thought to make a winged-machine before da Vinci. Eilmer of Malmesbury, a monk, created his own ornithopter and was even able to test it way back in 1010 at Malmesbury Abbey. It's believed that Eilmer covered a distance of approximately 650 feet before crashing and reportedly breaking both legs.
da Vinci's ornithopter was designed to function similarly to a bird's anatomy, but it remains unknown if he was ever able to test his idea. [read more]
One of my favorite inventors.
The other inventions listed in the article:
- Mobile Bridge
- Rudimentary Machine Gun
- Armored Vehicle
- Helical Air Screw
- Prelude to the Modern Parachute
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