How Da Vinci helped shape the world-Part 2

rihchie.ebb (56)in #writing • 7 years ago

In Part 2 of this series we start to look at some of the things he invented that were beyond his time.

The Flying machine

Even though there were a few prototypes developed by Da Vinci, he never could make the machine actually work. However, the fact that he thought of the idea and worked on a wing similar to what planes and aircrafts have today makes it a worthy able notice.

The flying machine shows people that his ability to observe and the amount of imagination he had, were far superior to that of his neighbours. Da Vinci wrote in his notebook that even if he does not succeed in getting man to soar the skies like our avian friends, one day someone would be able to succeed.

The Machine Gun

Da Vinci noticed that cannons took too long to load and came up with an idea that resembles the modern day machine gun (In ways something in 16th century can). Leonardo built the “33-barrel organ” which featured three rows of eleven barrels each.

It works by firing the first row of barrels the organ rotates and the second row fired and so forth. While the one row of barrels are cooling of the other row can be loaded and thus creating a continuous shooting effect.

Triple barrelled cannon

Leonardo was a war engineer. Always thinking of ideas to solve problems. This thinking lead to the design of the triple barrel cannon. These cannons were designed with ease of use in mind. Da Vinci added some large wheels and 3 thin cannons that had the ability to be adjusted to certain heights and be loaded and shot simultaneously. The 3 thin cannons meant fewer weight to move around.

Self-propelled cart

The cart used coiled springs and steering and braking mechanisms to move along. The cart would start moving once the breaks released. People actually built this cart with Leonardo’s notes and it actually works. You can read more about it here.

The World’s First Scuba Gear

Although not needed at the time, Leonardo designed the first scuba gear to be used to attack enemy ships from down under.

A leather suit with two cane tubes connected to a floating device on the surface of the water.

A Tank

The tank Leonardo designed had a major flaw in it, the crank to the wheels rotated in opposite directions so the tank would not move at all, but this is believed to be intentionally to protect his workings from people trying to copy or steal his ideas. You can read more about the tank here as the site has a lot of helpful information if you want to learn more.