Da Vinci's Machines

On Sunday we visited the Da Vinci Machines exhibition on the Esplanade in Perth. It was quite interesting and considering he was born in the 15th century his inventions, sketches, artwork, studies, etc really were way beyond their time.

A war ship. The cannon positions are designed for simultaneous fire so the forces cancel and avoid affecting vessel movement.


Basic Paddle boat


K learns how the archimedes screw works. Although the invention dates back to Archimedes in 250BC Leonardo found various ingenious uses for it.


The earliest bicycle was a wooden scooter-like contraption called a celerifere; it was invented about 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. What's this then?

One of Leonardo's most famous inventions. A self moving car propelled by a complicated mechanism powered by leaf springs (balestre). The operator would hand-load the leaf springs and the stored energy is transmitted to the wheels by a complex set of gears. A small rudder wheel is used to steer the car.

Not sure this one will get off the ground, even with the fabric to make the wings

Another flying machine