Here are some images of Edu-Toys Leonardo Da Vinci's Great Kite.
From the instructions"
Da Vinci was a prolific inventor; he designed hundreds of war machines
for work, but also for theatre and the world of music. Of all the
machines he invented, the flying machines were the most incredible, and
not a single book on the world of aviation fails to recognize Leonardo
Da Vinci as the forerunner in studies of human flight.
The Codex of
Flight, preserved in the Royal Library of Turin represents the most
advanced and organic state of Da Vinci's studies on flight. The genius
of Da Vinci drew inspiration for his work from his direct observation of
the flight of a bird; the Kite. By analyzing the Turin notebook
carefully, the Leonardo3 Research centre discovered that the design for
the "Codex of Flight flying machine" is described with extreme
precision.
Da Vinci described its dimensions, the materials with
which it is to be built, its shape and how it works; the whole notebook
revolves precisely around the construction and use of the machine. The
piloting must have been complex. He would use his hands and feet that
could activate ropes and rotate, move and open and close the wings with
his own movements. Da Vinci's design is not drawn in its entirety. We
must therefore reconstruct the indispensable parts. These include; the
canvas to cover the wings, some articulations and pulleys, and the tail,
which Da Vinci knew was indispensable for controlling the machine. Da
Vinci's instructions for building the machine are extremely precise and
even regard the materials to be used. He also advised which ones to
avoid.
On folio 7r of the Codex of flight he wrote: ... not one
single piece of metal must be used in the construction, because this
material breaks or wears away under stress, so there is no need to
complicate the job.
Da Vinci suggested using resistant leather for
the joints and silk for the ropes. The canvas would be taffeta, a very
thick silk, or linen canvas that is starched so any holes are sealed to
prevent any air from passing through. Also with regards to the canvas
that would cover the wings he suggested referring to the wing membrane
of a bat since, unlike bird feathers, air does not pass through it...
"Remember
that your bird must only copy the bat because the membranes act as a
framework, Connecting the major articulations. If you wanted to copy the
wings of feathered birds you would would have to remember that they
have stronger bones and quills because they are permeable; the feathers
are divided and the air passes through them. On the other hand, the bat
is held up by its membranes, which connect everything together and are
not permeable.
We can presume the rest of the machine was to be made
of wood, using different species based on their properties: ash wood for
the wings, because it's flexible; beech wood for the pulleys, since
it's easy to polish; and walnut wood or something else more resistant
for the structural parts. The Great Kite, described and drawn in the
Codex of Flight, is one of the most complex flying machines that Da
Vinci designed. It's likely that Da Vinci never finished building it,
but he profoundly believed that his project was worthwhile and fervently
desired to test it, launching it, with a pilot (some poor sap), on the
edge of a mountain top. In fact, in one of the most famous phrases from
the Codex of Flight, Da Vinci wrote:
"The first Great Bird will make
its first flight, launched from the peak of Mount Cecero and will fill
the universe with amazement and all the reports of its great fame will
confer eternal glory upon the places where it was conceived".
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