Leonardo da Vinci inventions
By Davin Allen
Machine Gun
The machine gun really caught my eye because it could have been the first multiple fire gun in history. Da Vinci's machine gun, or "33-barreled organ," wasn't a machine gun in the modern sense. It couldn't fire more than one bullet out of a single barrel. It could, however, deliver punishing volleys of gunfire at rapid intervals and, if it had been built, would have effectively shot oncoming infantry.
Ornithopter
The Orthinopter caught my eye the most because of its structural foundation. Da Vinci was fascinated by birds. He watched them, sketched them and borrowed ideas from them for his inventions. One of the results of this fascination was the ornithopter, a device made by da Vinci that would have theoryed have allowed humans to soar through the air like birds.The ornithopter was actually a way for people to fly off the ground and into the air.
Armored tank
While working for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, da Vinci proposed what may have been his ultimate war machine the armored tank. Eight men drove it and maned it. The armored tank moved like a really slow turtle with 36 guns poking out of its shell. It was maned by a system of gears propelled by cranks that turned a sequence of wheels. The eight men would have been protected from being shot. The outer shell protected them so that they could have driven the tank at about walking speed right into the heat of battle without being hurt. The guns, firing in all directions, would have been devastating to enemy ranks.