Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions
By: Elizabeth WInfrey
The Machine Gun!
Da Vinci created the machine gun, or (33-barreled organ) It's not really a machine gun now a days but it would have been back then. It couldn't fire bullets rapidly out of one barrel but it fires huge bullets not at a fast pace but they could cause more damage.
The Parachute?
Well, I know it seems weird but the parachute was invented in the 1400s! Up until now, I thought it would have been like 1900 before the parachute was even thought about!! Leonardo Da Vinci was fascinated by the idea of human's flying. He was convinced that his idea of a parachute would let humans "drift gracefully through the air." As Da Vinci wrote in his notebooks, it would allow a human "to throw himself down from any great height without suffering any injury."
The Aerial Screw
The Aerial Screw is sort of like our modern helicopter. And yes, back in the 1400s they actually thought about inventing a helicopter, well Da Vinci did. Like I said before, he was fascinated by human flight. The parachute was designed to fall from a high distance, but how could you get up there first? He then thought about the "Aerial Screw". The flying machine had blades at the top made of linen. The blades would turn and turn really fast and if they went fast enough they thought it would force the machine into the sky. They never tried it though. Will it ever be attempted? If so, will it work? There are a lot of questions.
This is the way Leonardo Da Vinci envisioned the aerial screw.