Leonardo da Vinci

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Leonardo da Vincis Self-Propelled Car

• The worlds first self-propelled vehicle

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Background

• Leonardo da Vincis self-propelled car, a wooden
  three wheeled cart, is among the many thousands
  of sketches he made, now collected in the Codex
  Atlanticus (self-propelled car was drawn on sheet
  812r), a thousand page collection of drawings
  that is da Vincis best-known work.
• His drawings of a self-propelled car was rendered
  around 1478 when Leonardo was 26 years old,
  however, like many of his drawings, it was never
  made
• Leonardos drawings of the vehicle were
  discovered in 1905 by Girolamo Calvi, who called
  it Leonardos Fiat

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Predecessor Vehicles

• Leonardo da Vinci was not the first to design
  transportation machines
• Italian painter and sculptor Francesco di Giorgio
  Martini had designed a four-wheeled human-powered
  vehicle before da Vincis design and named it
  "automobile (it was also never built)
• However, di Giorgios vehicle was human powered
  and not self-powered

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• da Vincis vehicle was worlds first
  self-propelled vehicle as well as the first one
  with programmable steering that could go
  straight, or turn at pre-set angles, but only to
  the right
• If it was simply a spring-powered cart, it would
  not be that big of a deal, what is significant is
  that you can replace or change these cams and
  alter how it goes about its pathin other words,
  its programmable in an analog, mechanical sense
  Rosheim (Vanderbilt)
• The purpose of the invention was probably to
  cause a sensation at events in the royal court

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Solving the Puzzle

• Since the discovery of da Vincis self-propelled
  vehicle drawing in 1905, scholars have theorized
  about the car might work, some thought it was
  another one of his impossible machines
• Was not until early 1990s that Professor Carlo
  Pedrettie, director of the Armand Hammer Center
  for Leonardo Studies in Los Angeles, realized
  that springs in da Vincis cart were not for
  power as earlier scholars had thought, but for
  steering.

• In 1993, Pedretti teamed up with US robotics
  expert Mark Rosheim to try to figure out how the
  fragments of da Vincis sketches fit together
• Biggest breakthrough came from a drawing Rosheim
  had of a karakuri, 18th century Japanese
  tea-carrying automaton
• The movement of the karakuri was determined by
  the placement of cams, small appendages on a
  wheel or shaft that engage a lever and convert
  rotary power to linear power

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• Found small cam like protrusions attached to one
  of the toothed wheels in da Vincis drawing
• Power came from coiled springs inside the
  tambours

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The Completed Model

• After the puzzle was figured out, researchers
  took eight months to translate da Vincis
  drawings to a one-third scale wooden model
• The design was so perfect that it moved perfectly
  the first time it was built
• Could travel up to 40 meters
• Model was displayed from May 1 June 5 2004 at
  the Institute and Museum of the History of
  Science in Florence
• Interesting that resembles NASAs Spirit, a
  space vehicle used on Mars

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• Works cited
• Renaissance machines are reborn. BBC News.
  October 19, 1999.
• Leonardo's Car Brought to Life. Guardian
  Newspapers, April 23, 2003. http//www.buzzle.com
  /editorials/4-23-2004-53311.asp
• Lautomobile di Leonardo da Vinci. Institute and
  Museum of the History of Science. January 26,
  2005. http//brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/automobile/
• Lorenzi, Rossella. Da Vinci Sketched an Early
  Car. Discovery News. April 26, 2004.
• Leonardos Machines. National Museum of Science
  and Technology. January 26, 2005.
  http//www.museoscienza.org/english/leonardo/galle
  ria.html
• Leonardo's Car Brought to Life. Guardian
  Newspapers, April 23, 2003. http//www.buzzle.com
  /editorials/4-23-2004-53311.asp
• Rosheim, Mark. Anthrobot.com Ross-Hime Designs,
  Inc. 2000. http//www.anthrobot.com/press/article_
  leo_programmable.html
• Vanderbilt, Tom. The Real da Vinci Code.
  Wired. November 2004 210-214.