About 500 years ago, an Italian brimming with imagination pondered men flying, working and fighting. He put pen to parchment and sketched devices to make those things easier and more efficient.

And what devices: Water-powered saws. Gliders and parachutes. Worm gears and lantern pinions. Ball bearings. Multiple-shot guns. A tank. Metal chain gears. A human-powered helicopter.

Video: 'Machines in Motion'

Click here: Watch full-sized video

---

“Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion”

When, where: Saturday-Aug. 16 at the Mayborn Museum Complex, 1300 S. University-Parks Drive. Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays and Fridays-Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Admission: $10 for adults, $9 for senior adults, $5 for children. Includes regular museum admission.

---

The restlessly creative mind behind those devices belonged to Leonardo da Vinci, a 15th-century Italian inventor, artist and engineer best known for his masterpiece paintings “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa.”

Beginning Saturday, Central Texans will see those inventions come to life in “Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion,” a summer exhibit at the Mayborn Museum.

The touring show, which stopped in Mexico City, San Antonio, Birmingham, Ala., and Columbia, S.C., before Waco, contains 40 life-sized models created from da Vinci’s sketchbooks. Visitors can move, crank, pull and spin wooden devices built to his specifications — something that da Vinci himself may not have been able to do as many, if not most, of his sketches never advanced beyond the drawing stage.

The models illustrate how da Vinci combined observation of the world around him, creativity and problem-solving.

“It boggles my mind that we’re so amazed by his ideas and his inventions, and those were 500 years ago,” said Mayborn Museum Complex Director Ellie Caston.

In addition to the life-size models, four video screens show costumed apprentices explaining where da Vinci found inspiration for his machines. There’s also a “Leonardo’s Workshop,” created by San Antonio’s Witte Museum, that allows kids to make paper ornithopters, experiment with catapults, build bridge arches with model stones and draw objects in perspective.

Craftsmen in Florence, Italy, built the “Machines in Motion” models largely from pine, rope and glue — common materials available in da Vinci’s day — supplemented with modern metal bolts, struts and fittings. San Antonio exhibits technician Jason Stevens, who helped assemble the Mayborn’s exhibit, said vigorous use by American museum audiences have caused a few design modifications, with replacement parts often thickened or enlarged to handle increased wear.

Audiences tend to gravitate toward the exhibit’s larger machines and flying devices, Stevens said. “Woodworkers love the gliders, while kids love the crane and the tank,” he said. Others look at a bicycle — wooden from wheels to seat — that’s attributed to da Vinci, though most experts think a student likely sketched the one found in da Vinci’s notebooks, he added.

Those paying attention to the mechanics behind the machines will find devices still utilized today, from rack-and-pinion gearing, worm gears and escapement wheels (found in mechanical clocks and watches) to ball bearings and chain drives.

The latter two may look unremarkable compared to flashier creations, such as the human-powered flying machine, the ornithopter, but have proved enormously useful over five centuries of mechanical devices, said Stevens. “The ornithopter is just a ridiculous idea. There’s no way this would ever work.”

In conjunction with the opening of “Machines in Motion,” the Mayborn Museum will extend its hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday with a special $5 admission charge. Opening day also will feature inflatable games for kids, sidewalk chalk painting, storytelling, cash-only food vendors and other activities.

The museum also will hold “da Vinci Days” on June 11, 18 and 25 and July 16, 23 and 30, with kids’ learning activities based on the exhibit.

choover@wacotrib.com

757-5749

Leonardo da Vinci found inspiration for his glider in the skeletal structure of bird wings.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

A waterwheel, here fitted with a hand crank, and an escapement wheel to prevent backward motion combine to power the straight saw blades used to cut logs.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

This conical, 10-foot-tall vehicle had room inside for four men and ports for small cannons. Hand cranks moved the vehicle — albeit slowly, given its weight — and its slides sloped to deflect opponents' weapons. Its wooden construction, however, made it vulnerable to iron shot.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

Notched wheels and a spiral worm gear convert applied force from the horizontal to the vertical.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

Human-powered paddles were supposed to levitate this basket — one of da Vinci's ideas that worked better on parchment than in practice.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

Wooden ball bearings fitted between spools enabled movement with reduced friction.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)

An elaborate combination of rack-and-pinion gears and worm gears — plus a lot of patience — allowed a worker to crank a heavy column or post into an upright position.

(Rod Aydelotte photo)