Leonardo Da Vinci Research Paper

What are engineering drawings, and why are they essential in innovating engineering? Well typically, they are drawings made by engineers, detailing some new idea that they have. Some are hand drawn, especially in the early planning stages, then they are drawn more detailed, with computer aided drawing. They are an important way to communicate an idea between engineers. To fully answer this question, we are going to look at the life of Leonardo da Vinci, one of greatest engineers, that ever lived.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15th 1452 out of wedlock, to parents Piero da Vinci, and Catalina. His hometown was Vinci, a province of Florence. His father was a wealthy man, and his mother was a peasant. As a young child, he was denied an education, because of his birth. Regardless, this didn't

stop Leonardo, as he taught himself just by observing nature, and through trail, and error. As a young man, he moved to Florence, and began an apprenticeship under a renowned painter called Verrocchio. It was during this time when Leonardo began developing his painting skills, and painted a few of his famous paintings. He collaborated with Verrocchio on his The Baptism of Christ Painting. He established himself as a skilled painter by the age of twenty years old. Most of Leonardo's early career was spent as an artist, and painter.

At the age of thirty, he moved from Florence to Milan, and began working for Duke Ludovico il Morro.

Duke Ludovico was known as a warmonger, and as such was impressed by Leonardo's proposed weapons. He was hired as a military engineer, and claimed to be able to make movable bridges, assault boats, and covered ladders. He also claimed to be able to make mortars, flame-throwers, and even armored wagons for battle. A few of his other proposed weapons were a giant crossbow, and a thirty-three barreled gun organ. The gun organ, was the earliest known conception of a machine gun type weapon. The gun organ was designed with a rotating triangular shape, so when one row of barrels finished firing, you could rotate to the next and reload, while it fired. His tank, or armored wagon had a serious design flaw and was therefore never produced. The problem was that the cranks that would be used for powering it were in opposite directions, making it impossible to move forward. Some believe that Leonardo intentionally designed it that way, because he was against war, and didn't want it to be used in battle. There were many other weapons, that he conceptualized, but many were never

created.
His other job title, while he worked for Duke Ludovico was that of an entertainer, and he was always inventing things for the pageants. He designed floats, and created machines, with which to amaze the audience. He also organized processions, and produced musical events. One of his creations was his robotic knight, that was able to sit, stand, and open its' helmet. The knight was a suit of armor, filled with pulleys, and gears that were all connected in a way to allow it to move on its' own.
Leonardo was fascinated by war, and developed many weapons during his service to Duke il Morro, and even after that. He went to Venice, and developed a diving suit for naval defense. The suit had a bag-like mask that went over the diver's head, that had attached to it, two tubes near the nose, that went to a cork diving bell, afloat on the waters' surface. That way the oxygen could be taken from the diving bell. He also developed a dredging machine while he was a military engineer there. He developed a revolving bridge, that could be packed up quickly, and moved for use with crossing rivers, and moats. It had wheels, and used a rope-and-pulley system for fast action, and easy mobility.
Leonardo was intrigued with flight, and had many detailed notes from studying birds. He could also be called the grandfather of aeronautics, because he designed quite a few flying machines. One such creation was called the ornithopter, a glider with flapping wings, like that of a bird, or a bat. It would have a hand crank and foot pedals to power the wings, and a head piece for steering. The wings were even designed to twist as they flapped, just like flying animals wings. Another less practical design was of what might be considered a precursor to a helicopter, called an “airscrew”, but it would have been to heavy to leave the ground. Leonardo even designed a parachute, among his flight related drawings. The parachute design was much larger than those we have today, and it would have had a triangular shape, as opposed to rounded. He spent a good portion of his life, studying flight, and designing his flying machines. Unfortunately, he never lived to see any of them in action.
Leonardo used his artistic ability to make detailed sketches of all his ideas. This helped him clearly display what he was trying to accomplish, and also helped him sell the ideas.
Later in life Leonardo began to study anatomy, and he drew the famous, Vitruvian Man. He did many autopsies, and was able to vividly draw organs, and the skeletal system of humans. Leonardo spent much of his later years studying anatomy, and had many notes on everything from animals, to plants, and humans.
He was also an artist, and always sketched things. Hand drawings are important to inventors, because you never know when the next great idea will come to you, and you need to be able to draw it, when it does. Leonardo made many detailed drawings in his notes, which gave us the basic concept, for engineering drawings today. I don't think cad drawings can completely replace the need for hand drawings, because you won't always have a computer with you when the idea hits you. Also most times you need to start with a rough ideation sketch, before you can fine tune it, and put it into cad. Leonardo's drawings were beautifully drawn, and very detailed. It was very clear that he had a great imagination, and artistic ability, just from looking at drawings in his notes. All of his notes were mirror written to prevent people from stealing his ideas.

Leonardo did many civil architectural projects, and one involved diverting the Arno River, around Florence. He collaborated with Niccolo Machiavelli, who was a well known politician. It would have had great economic, and military purposes if it had succeeded. Unfortunately shortly after work began, there was a large amount of flooding, that ruined their work. Afterwords, they were unable to convince the government, to give them another chance to resume the project. Another proposed project was a bridge for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The bridge would have connected the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Leonardo created a beautiful drawing, but the Sultan believed it was not possible to build the bridge, so it never happened. He also developed gated canals, for controlling water levels, similar to locks, and canals that we have today.