The Museum model Canal bridge with hatch sluice gates Leonardo's sketch depicts the workings of a canal bridge for the city of Florence. Thanks to this device, a watercourse could be crossed through a big lock made up of a system of sluice gates located at a given distance between one another.
Sluice gates allow boats to be raised or lowered from one water level to another.
The annotations next to the drawing explain how to build a canal banks in order to prevent the water from eroding the gravel, and to avoid overflows. Where problems to do with floods are concerned, Leonardo also gives tips on how to build a canal bed and points out the best parts of the year for carrying out the work. Codex Atlanticus, folio 126 v. former folio 46 v.a. The folio shows three drawings of the study of a canal for the city of Florence. The top section of the folio shows a long annotation that gives a description of the embankments' profiles and explains how to prevent erosion.