Page 72 - All About History - Issue 11-14

Da Vinci’s genius inventions

CLOCKS

Genius time-
keeping ideas

Though he can’t be credited with
the invention of the clock, the
Renaissance man contributed great
advancements towards ever-more
accurate and reliable mechanisms.
During the 15th century, clockmakers
started to use springs rather than
weights as a measuring device and in
around 1490, da Vinci adopted
this concept to introduce two
Da Vinci contributed many
separate mechanisms, one each for clockwork improvements
hours and minutes.
He is credited with being among
the first inventors to include a fusee
in his clock designs, a conical pulley Verdict
that serves to balance out the pull This more-accurate and
of the main chain as it winds down. innovative design contributed
This resulted in far more accurate much to time-keeping. A
fundamental understanding
timekeeping. He also developed a of clockworks, also applied
rudimentary alarm clock, based on
to many of his other different
the flow of water from one container inventions, meant Leonardo
to another, with a series of pulleys had given the world another
raising the inventor’s legs at the advancement that in part
stroke of a clock. keeps us all on time today.

DIVING SUIT

This early sketch of a
parachute applied what little A tool to explore new worlds
was known about the physics
of air resistance at the time
In 1499, while living in Venice, a city famous for
its network of waterways, the inventor conceived
THE PARACHUTE a way for a human to breathe while submerged
underwater. His diving suit was made out of
An early attempt to fall to Earth safely pigskin leather and featured cane tubes connected
to a floating bell, through which the wearer would
In a margin of his notes, da Vinci sketched be able to breathe.
a small figure grasping a triangle-shaped Once again light years ahead of his time, it would
construction. He commented that with be centuries before this suit would be studied again
enough linen cloth arranged across the frame, and further developed to what we would now call
a man could “jump from any great height scuba equipment. Another one of his concepts,
whatsoever without injury.” the use of a leather pouch to keep air underwater
Though his design was later studied and for breathing, formed the basis of what would
adapted by several inventors, the modern-day become an early version of the aqualung in the
ripcord parachute, developed in the early-20th 19th century.
century, bears little resemblance to his sketch. Verdict
However, his clear understanding of the It’s the theory and
principles that would enable a person to fall thought behind the
safely back to Earth, applying his knowledge invention of the Verdict
of aerodynamics and air resistance, stood parachute, rather than The early design of this suit, in
the test of time as an example to those who the device itself, that its most fundamental sense,
deserves the accolades. would not change much when
would follow him. Some 500 years later his A successful modern-day Da Vinci’s design has
device was actually built and was proved to test of the inventor’s it was replicated centuries been tested and proved
later. Though his materials
work, though the weight of the frame would concept only confirmed were crude, da Vinci’s aqualung to have worked
certainly have caused problems when landing. his genius. harnessed the basics of human
survival while submerged.
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