Leonardo's Odometers
Drawings by Leonardo of the odometers In the De architectura of the Roman architect and engineer, Vitruvius (80-15BC). Odometers are used to measure the distance travelled by a vehicle on land or sea. Leonardo designed an odometer to record distances, to make maps, for military purposes and for canal machine for measuring mileage that Vitruvius described may have been invented around 264 BS by Archimedes, during the First Punic War. Of the three drawings, the mechanism shown on the right, records the distance that has been travelled whilst the central drawing and the one on the left represent two odometers. It is likely that the operation of the one-wheel odometer in the centre was designed by Leonardo from a description by Vitruvius. The drawing on the left is based on Leonardo's redesign of the odometer in the centre to improve its construction and performance.
Size: 5501px × 3177px
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Photo credit: © SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1, 1st, 27-23, 30-15, ambrosiana, archimedes, architectura, atlanticus, baeton, bc, bematists, biblioteca, codex, da, de, diognetus, discoveries, distance, drawings, engineer, folio, gears, greek, instrument, inventions, leonardo, marcus, mathematician, measure, measurements, milan, odometer, physicist, pollio, prototypes, punic, romans, scientific, sicily, sketches, syracuse, travelled, treatise, veneranda, vinci, vitruvius, war, wheels
