Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519)

Mechanics

Mechanical engineering was another science in which Leonardo had brilliant intuitions. An analysis of cogwheels and movement had already been amply undertaken by Francesco di Giorgio, but Leonardo's great genius permitted him to resolve the practical problems that interpose themselves between man's ideas and their realisation.

Leonardo, for example, was the first to understand the problems created by the use of wood for the cogs at the time, which not only sapped enormous quantities of energy, but wore out quickly.

Leonardo attempted to give greater equilibrium to machines by inventing gears driven by helicoidal springs, which gave the movement of the cogwheels a greater stability. The study of movement, led him to invent a mechanism designed to modify the ratio of velocity, forerunner of the modern mechanical transmission.

Leonardo designed many different types of industrial machines as interest in mechanics grew and the necessities of industrial production caused engineers to attempt the mechanization of tasks until then carried out by man.

Among Leonardo's inventions were machines to work metal, a wooden apparatus to cut grapevines, various types of hydraulic mallets (though the first prototypes were already two-hundred years old) and a machine to clean and smooth both level and curved mirrors.

Leonardo was particularly interested in the textile industry, which was strongly expanding in both Lombardy and Tuscany. His projects for weaving machines attempted to solve common problems, though some of his solutions (such as an automatic spinning-wheel) were of difficult construction. Leonardo also left a series of detailed designs for machines designed to card and shear cloth.

[ Leonardo in Florence ]
[ His Years in Milan ]
[ His Roman Sojourn ]
[ Leonardo in France ]
[ Flight and Freedom ]
[ Leonardo the Engineer ]
...[ Leonardo and Warcraft ]
...[ The Art of War ]
...[ Leonardo and Water ]
...[ Entertainments ]
[ The Portrait of Mona Lisa ]