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526 Years On, Da Vinci's Clockwork Car Constructed
SimianOverlord writes "The Guardian (and several other news outlets) report on the attempt by Professor Paulo Galluci and his team to build a working model of Leonard Da Vinci's clockwork powered car, designed in 1478. Previous attempts have been made to create the vehicle, but they failed to work properly. This is thought to be due to a misunderstanding of the original design, which is corrected in the new model. Apart from the 1/3 scale replica, the team have also made a full size model but have not dared to test it. Professor Galluzzi explained "It is a very powerful machine. It could run into something and do serious damage.""
This has been done - There was a programme on Channel 4 (UK) about three weeks ago in which they successfully built his glider and flew it. It flew very well, although it was apparently like nothing that currently exists with regards to handling, and it had no yaw (I think thats the word) at all.
Enjoy.
If anybody happens to have a link to a picture of the actual plans, I would be QUITE interested in getting a look at those.
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Particularly smart people before the advent of a patent system.
Once upon a time, in a New World far, far away from it's cultural origins, there arose a new nation, founded by men who thought very hard about what they were doing and, for the most part, got things pretty right (there are always men who think only of their own benefit who muck up the system).
Thomas Jefferson got the patent system pretty right, and while things were under his direct control the system worked very well and Leonardo (had he come to America) would have felt free to publish and comment without fear, and the public would not have had to wait hundreds of years for his ideas to become freely available to them. This system actually stood as a model for the world for 100 years.
But extraordinary men are always replaced by lesser men.
Patents are not the problem. Patents are the solution to a problem that most people have forgotten existed. Except, perhaps, those trying to create corporeal versions of Leonardo's drawings.
The problem is protectionism bolstered by greed. Congress, of course, is supposed to represent the people in creating systems that allow the people to engage in profit making enterprises without abrogating the rights of the people.
But congress, for the most part, is made up of these lesser men, driven by protectionism and greed.
"What if you were an idiot? And what if you were a member of congress? But I repeat myself." --Mark Twain.
KFG
I saw somewhere that DaVinci purposely put flaws into his drawings as a type of copy protection. Only another genius would be able to see the flaw and build the device correctly. This would come in handy if his plans were stolen or captured since many of his designs were commissioned for siege craft.
It's well-known that he built subtle flaws into many of his designs. It was a common practice of inventors before patents were created: he alone knew the "mistakes" he had introduced, and could easily fix them, but anyone else who stole his notes would spend a long time making something that would never run.
(One example is the mechanical lion he built for the king of Spain. If you build it exactly as described in his design, it is impossible for it to move: its gears turn against each other. Yet DaVinci did build it, and it worked.)
How can you tell this car was built by academics? They spend god knows how many hours building a car out of wood, from purposely obfuscated plans that are half a thousand years old, and have never heard of the Utah salt flats. I mean come on, they test rocket cars there! Do they really think a giant wind-up toy is going to do better than that?
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Reminds me of grade school. No matter which class, there would always be some kid sitting next to me, peeking over at my paper. I'd act like I didn't notice/care, but secretly mark wrong answers. As soon as they finished their test, I'd go back and change them to the right answers.
I fooled kids for many years that way. No one ever confronted me as to why I always had a higher grade than they did.
Served them right.
You're nothing; like me.