Leonardo da Vinci's Greatest Inventions

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest geniuses in all of human history.

Published 1 year ago in Funny

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest geniuses in all of human history. An inventor, artist, engineer, and biologist all in one; he was the original Renaissance man. He painted the Mona Lisa, used nature to help him come up with new scientific principles for flight and propulsion, and championed pacifism in the process. But, for somebody so smart he made some pretty dumb designs. I mean, most of these are still pretty genius for their time.

Leonardo was obsessed with flight and spent decades researching birds and scientific principles associated with lift. He designed gliders, human-propelled bird-like flying machines, and even a helicopter. But while each of these was revolutionary for their time, propulsion was an issue he never solved. Gears and pulleys were supposed to help augment a human's strength to operate such machines themselves, but there's a reason we're not birds. Some people even speculate that he wanted four people to run in a circle to power his helicopter. He especially should have known better.

1
While da Vinci's helicopter used correct principles of lift, it could never have overcome weight and propulsion issues of its time. Some people theorize that this model was designed to be powered by four men running in a circle.

2
While this tank looks more like an alien saucer than anything else, an armored vehicle with wheels is never a bad idea. However, da Vinci's tank included a gear design mistake that would have rendered it inoperable. Although an easy fix, the design needed some work. Some speculate this mistake was intentional however, for moral reasons.

3
Robotics was a long ways away in the late 1400s, but that didn't stop da Vinci from trying his hand at it. More like a wind up toy, he made many self powered gadgets. It's hard to imagine anything like this working on a battlefield.
4
da Vinci searched throughout his life for means self propulsion, but what was essentially a wind-up car was as close as he got. A chariot without a horse is cool, but not if you have to stop every few seconds to rewind it.

5
Early guns took a long time to reload, and this wheeled machine gun tried to fix that by strapping many together at once. But more isn't always better, and it's hard to imagine this being useful on a real battlefield.
6
Think of these as snow shoes for the water, allowing you to walk along its surface; cross country skiing on inflatable buoys. But unless you consider the water ski a direct descendant, this one didn't get very far.
7
This deadly chariot looks more like something my vicious four year old cousin designed, than the greatest thinker of his generation. Huge blades that swing as the wheels turn? I mean, I guess it's actually kind of cool.

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Before going any further, da Vinci's contributions to flight were genius, along with most of this design. The wings especially were a brilliant example of reverse engineering nature. But the propulsion system, which aimed to use pulleys and gears to augment human strength, never got very far. People just aren't birds.
9
da Vinci's attempt at a submarine included some fantastic principles of buoyancy that are still used today. As for the rest of it however, propulsion and control were issues that could never be solved.
10
Recognizing that fully functioning submarine might not happen in his lifetime, da Vinci tried his hand at a submersible shell. Looking more like a hand grenade than anything else, the design is similar to early submersibles that were actually built. Still, what does going down in this thing really accomplish?