File-Cutting Machine, Model, Da Vinci
date: label: date made
content: 1963
notes: label: Description
content: This is a fully operable model of a file-cutting machine invented by Italian renaissance artist and engineer Leonardo Da Vinci. It is made of oak and olive wood with mechanical parts of brass and iron, including a triphammer with a screw-controlled feed. The model is mounted on a grey board reading “File-Cutting Machine / About 1500 / by Leonardo da Vinci.” This model was made by the Museo Nezionale Della Scienze E Della Tecnica Leonardo Da Vinci of Milan, Italy in 1963.
label: Description
content: Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was a painter, architect, engineer, and humanist of the Italian Renaissance, He is renowned for his innovations in various fields such as cartography, anatomy, and alchemy, and for paintings like the <i>Last Supper</i> and the <i>Mona Lisa</i>. Much of his inventions and innovations, such as the file-cutting machine which this model was made after, are found in the <i>Codex Atlanticus</i>, a collection of da Vinci’s notes, projects, studies, and drawings. The original file-cutting machine created by Da Vinci dates to about 1500, and the design can be found in Folio 6 Recto B of the <i>Codex</i>. This machine as one of the first automatic machines designed by da Vinci. It works through the linear movement of a weight hanging from a cord that passes over a pulley and is wound onto a windlass a part of the main shaft of the machine. Once the weight is released, it operates the gear and makes a hammer rise and fall into the steel, cutting the file. As the shaft simultaneously moves the pinion and toothed wheel connected to an endless screw, the cart on which the file is positioned is synchronized with the hammer’s movement. This file-cutting machine provides an example of da Vinci’s innovative engineering feats during the Renaissance period and specifically his contributions to automated machinery.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Italy: Lombardy, Milan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Museo Nezionale Della Scienze E Della Tecnica Leonardo Da Vinci
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.322441
label: catalog number
content: 322441
label: accession number
content: 247386
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Machine Tool, File Cutting
label: Object Name
content: File Cutting Machine, Model
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall - from catalog card: 12 in; x 30.48 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in x 12 7/8 in; 16.51 cm x 26.67 cm x 32.7025 cm