Academy 18142 Da Vinci Machines - Spingarde

Leonardo Da Vinci (born in 1452, died in 1519) was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant people of the Renaissance and is widely regarded as one of the most talented people in history. He was not only an exceptionally talented painter, author of such masterpieces as "The Lady with an Ermine" or "The Last Supper", but also an extremely prolific inventor and innovator. His great talent was also realized in the construction of war machines and artillery. One of his projects was the so-called Spingard. It was, in essence, a design of a field cannon on a two-wheeled tow truck, which had a wooden "artillery shield" on top to protect the gunner from enemy fire. Interestingly, the project also assumed the use of a mechanism that allows the barrel to rotate horizontally, without moving the entire trailer. Originally, it was assumed to fire from this machine with stone balls and various types of large arrows. Later, however - most likely - Leonardo tended to use shotguns. It is worth adding that the sketch of this gun is located in the so-called The Atlantic Codex, i.e. the collection of notes by Leonardo da Vinci from 1489-1492.