Comparison of the Kinematic Mechanisms of Leonardo and Reuleaux

Abstract

In Parts I and II, we compared the design methodologies of 15th and 19th century machine engineers through the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux. General comparisons of machines and mechanisms used in machine construction were made in Tables I.2, I.3, I.4 and Tables II.2, II.3. In particular we have started with the premise of the Leonardo scholar Ladislao Reti who compared Leonardo’s ‘elementi macchinali’ in the Codex Madrid and Reuleaux’s ‘constructive elements’ shown in Table I.3. In Part III we present a more detailed comparison of Leonardo’s mechanisms in his manuscripts with the physical kinematic models of Franz Reuleaux. In this section we emphasize not just the machine elements of construction, but the elementary mechanisms that these elements are used to construct.