War tanks
While da Vinci was under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, he conceptualized an idea for an armored “fighting vehicle.” Many consider this to be an early prototype for the eventual invention of modern tanks several centuries later.
As shown in da Vinci’s sketches, his armored vehicle took inspiration from a turtle’s shell.
The conical car was designed to move in any direction and came equipped with a number of light cannons. Like many of the genius’ inventions, the idea was simply fantastical; it couldn’t possibly have been realized at the time he thought it up.
Interestingly, da Vinci’s early tank had one big issue: The cranks that would power it went in opposite directions, meaning it would never be able to move forward.
Some da Vinci scholars believe that the inventor, who was generally considered a pacifist, may have added this flaw to his design intentionally to prevent it from ever actually being created and used in warfare.
