Page 70 - All About History - Issue 11-14

Da Vinci’s genius inventions

THE ORNITHOPTER Inspired by nature
After his observations and
experiments with bats and birds,
Leonardo utilised a bird-like
The first-ever attempt at a flying machine wingspan into his designs, to grant
the pilot the maximum amount of
I underneath the canopy, which they could flap
air resistance.
n his Codex On The Flight Of Birds,
through a series of levers and gears. This flapping,
Leonardo considered the questions of
aerodynamics and presented ways in which
it was theorised, would provide both the thrust
man could replicate the natural mechanism
and lift that was required for flight.
Based on a wooden frame, da Vinci’s skeletal
that enables creatures to fly. From around
1488 to 1514, he was obsessed with the power of designs aren’t presented with any covering, though
flight and was constantly observing birds and bats it’s likely that he intended to use a cloth or netting
in an attempt to understand and harness the basic to provide sufficient resistance for the wings. It’s
principles that govern it. In his Codex, Da Vinci unclear whether he actually built and tested an
wrote: “A bird is an instrument working according ornithopter, but it’s now thought that the invention
to mathematical law, an instrument which is would not have fulfilled its creator’s dream.
within the capacity of man to reproduce with all Nonetheless, the machine remains one of the
its movements.” earliest plausible attempts by man to conquer the
Sketches of the ornithopter – a single-winged, skies, making its designer among the first
human-powered flying device – attempted to pioneers of flight.
directly mimic the mechanism of natural flight.
Presented in a number of variants of
the design, the device would be
operated by a single pilot, lying prone

Suspended pilot Like a bird
The ornithopter’s pilot would The machine, powered by a single
be suspended beneath pilot, was designed to repeatedly
the canopy, in the style of flap in the same way a bird does,
modern-day hang-gliders. lifting its occupant into the air.

“ The machine is one of

Pedal power the earliest plausible
Da Vinci understood that a person
would not be able to provide enough
power for flight with their arms alone, attempts by man to
so incorporated foot pedals into his
designs to provide extra force. conquer the skies”
Verdict
One of the inventor’s
Ultimately a failure in terms
sketches from his notebook
of practicality. Da Vinci isn’t
likely to have ever seen his
ornithopter successfully
fly, and today experts have
realised that based on his
sketches, it almost certainly
would have failed. However,
the machine is the first step
on the runway towards
human flight, several centuries
later. His understanding and
incorporation of the natural
Though this attempt to world, as well as his sturdy
master flight remains
remarkable for its time, it is grasp of physics, gave an edge
unlikely to have worked to his designs that hadn’t
previously been seen.
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