The Times has a great article about a modern-day recreation of a design by Leonardo Da Vinci — a three-wheeled wagon that may not only have been the world’s first self-propelled vehicle, but possibly one of the first computers. Powered by a wound spring, tensed by pushing the wagon backwards, the range of the device — which has been rebuilt for the Leonardo museum and library in Vinci, Italy — was only about 40 yards. Not enough for a trip to the trip to the store, but enough, perhaps, to move a prop across a stage by itself.
Read – An Engine That Could? This One Took 526 Years to Move [NYTimes]
