Source: http://macchinedileonardo.com/index.php?machines-interactive-models
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 22:21:51+00:00

Document:
Description: Among the most common devices for the transmission of motion in Leonardo’s mechanics is the combination gearwheel – lantern pinion. Da Vinci remarked, however, that breaking due to excessive weight, in turn leading to adverse motion, was possible.
Codex Atlanticus f. 77 v.
Description: The drawing shows two pinions (one conical and one cylindrical), which transmit motion to gearwheels of different diameters. Each has its own speed, corresponding to the time it takes to complete a full rotation. In principle, this system is the same as that of gearboxes on modern cars.
Codex Forster II f. 90 v.
Description: Some weights hang at the ends of the small rods composing this instrument. Observation and concrete experience lead Leonardo to maintain that “no matter what weight is hanged to the wheel and causes the wheel to move, the centre of the said weight will certainly stop right under the centre of the corresponding rod; and no instruments conceived by man will be able to change this”.
Codex Atlanticus f. 998 r.
Description: Who knows if Leonardo da Vinci created this model to change broken wheels to wagons. What certainly is amazing is that even in this case the idea is brilliant and modern.
Codex Madrid I f. 10 r.
Description: We shouldn't think that this study is exclusively done for the transmission of the bicycle, but even for the clocks that Leonardo had studied.
Codex Madrid I f. 36 r.
Description: A system of 8 spheres allows two surfaces to glide without friction.
Description: In order to overcome points of inertia and to increase momentum, Leonardo Da Vinci drew a series of flywheels, either equipped with wheels or provided with weights.
Codex Madrid I f. 6 v.
Description: Beyond being an interactive model, it is a functioning and automatic machine. The beating is still the same, while the motion could be given by a wheel that is moved by the water of a river.
Codex Madrid I f. 36 v.
Description: This drawing connected to clockwork studies, with weight movement rather than spring movement, displays a system of pulleys used to control the descent of the weight and to shorten the space necessary to unwind the rope.
Description: Optics is among the various scientific fields Da Vinci investigated during his life. This chamber has eight sides, all of which are covered internally by a mirror. By placing an object inside the chamber, one could see it completely from all sides without having to move.
Codex Madrid I f. 101 v.
Description: Ball bearings are used to reduce friction and allow two rotating planes to move freely, e.g. in a machine wheel. Leonardo certainly did not ignored it. This modern machine is in fact 500 years old.
Codex Madrid I f. 85 r.
Description: It is clear that this principle is based on the clockwork action, as an energy release for its functioning. The same concept is used for the working of the aerial screw.
Codex Madrid I f. 20 v.
Description: Trying to rotate the 2 planes, you can realize how little friction there is between them, thanks to the introduction of spheres, that furthermore reduce the model's wear-out.
Codex Madrid I f.97 r.
Description: Even in this case, the functions of this mechanism are various: for the loading of the catapult, to adjust the distance of the range and reduce the risk of the loading, in the cranes that were to lift heavy weights, without risking their fall.
Codex Madrid I f. 17 v.
Description: In order to overcome the “weaknesses” of the gearwheel-lantern pinion for the transmission of motion, Leonardo turned to a stronger mechanism that combines a worm screw with a gearwheel.
Codex Madrid I f. 28 v.
Description: A connecting rod is a mechanical member, placed between two pieces of a machine in order to transform reciprocating rectilinear motion into continuous rotary motion. The most striking feature of Da Vinci’s drawing is the high quality of the illustration, maybe originally designed to be turned into an etching and to be printed.
Codex Madrid I f. 19 v.
Description: Leonardo developed different types of automatic hooks, which should help in raising and lowering heavy loads.
Description: The drawing shows the optimum size of a cogwheel and the technique used to realise it.
Codex Atlanticus f. 396 r.
Description: In this study, Leonardo shows how to lift heavy loads without any effort. In fact the weight to be lifted is equally distributed on the various pulleys.
Description: A crank commands the helicoidal “corkscrew” mechanism. The ball bearing eliminates any friction problem.

References: v.

 v.

 v.

 v.

 v.

 v.

 v.

 v.

 v.