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This drone flies using da Vinci's 530-year-old helicopter design
CNET ^ | 01/31/2022 | Stephen Shankland

Posted on 02/01/2022 9:48:44 AM PST by BenLurkin

In the late 1480s, Leonardo da Vinci sketched out a clever design for a one-person helicopter propelled by an "aerial screw."

Starting in 2019, a University of Maryland engineering team designed and tested the underlying technology as part of a design contest. Then over the last year and a half, team member Austin Prete built Crimson Spin, an unmanned quadcopter drone using da Vinci's screwlike design, and flew it on several brief journeys.

Although Prete built only a small drone, the technology could work with an aircraft big enough to haul a human. "I do believe it should be able to scale up fairly well," he said.

Renaissance era construction materials, such as wood and leather, are too dense for aircraft. Da Vinci also didn't have compact energy sources.

Prete had access to aluminum, plastic, electric motors, batteries and computer control systems that made the aerial screw design possible. Also helpful: computer-aided design and computational fluid dynamics software that Prete used to design.


(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: aviation; davinci; drone; earlyflight; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; historyofflight; leonardo; leonardodavinci; middleages; renaissance
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

I read it and also saw “He and other team members were Initially skeptical but grew more excited by da Vinci’s design after some computer simulations and 3D-printed screw prototypes showed promising trends.”

That is good engineering — come up with a new idea, be skeptical of it, and grow more convinced of it as you do more analyses.

I still stand by he was just exuberant and really didn’t mean “we were surprised it worked.”


21 posted on 02/01/2022 10:41:47 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Math is Racist you sound like the Grand Pooba


22 posted on 02/01/2022 10:44:38 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: dangus

Biden means Dumas from Delaware


23 posted on 02/01/2022 10:46:09 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: BenLurkin

For a university project I wish it would’ve said how many rpm the screws needed to perform compared to the average propeller.


24 posted on 02/01/2022 10:47:59 AM PST by conservativeimage (Spark up a fire. Light up this place. Burn out this darkness and tear down the fear.)
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To: Romulus

“It’s like saying “from Aachen” and expecting people to know that you mean Charlemagne.”

No, not when there is only one really famous person from Vinci and he is world renowned by that descriptor.


25 posted on 02/01/2022 10:52:20 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

He might have been concerned with the balance and weight distribution.


26 posted on 02/01/2022 10:54:07 AM PST by shotgun
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To: dangus

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, Italy in the year 100 BCE to the patrician family of Gaius Julius Caesar and his wife Aurelia

Caesar was his last name.


27 posted on 02/01/2022 10:57:22 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF

Yes, of course... his was the cognomen after whom all the other Caesars followed.


28 posted on 02/01/2022 11:10:45 AM PST by dangus
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To: BenLurkin

Thanks for the post


29 posted on 02/01/2022 11:11:35 AM PST by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: BiglyCommentary

If it weren’t for the electronics, an F-35 wouldn’t fly either.


30 posted on 02/01/2022 11:18:10 AM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

My comment was tongue-in-cheek. screw propellers = screwy design.


31 posted on 02/01/2022 11:22:10 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: Boogieman

The Italian usage, as well as that of art historians, is plain Leonardo. da Vinci didn’t become common until Dan Brown.


32 posted on 02/01/2022 11:29:07 AM PST by Romulus
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To: BiglyCommentary

I know. I just like to heckle. ;-D


33 posted on 02/01/2022 11:33:50 AM PST by GingisK
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If it crashes, will that give new meaning to the term, “Auger In”? Asking for a friend.


34 posted on 02/01/2022 11:38:14 AM PST by curious7
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

There’s always a chance you missed something. Obviously his calculations were correct.


35 posted on 02/01/2022 11:41:04 AM PST by stevio
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To: al baby; MinuteGal; M Kehoe

“Biden means Dumas from Delaware”

Are you sure you didn’t mean “DumbAss from Delaware?


36 posted on 02/01/2022 11:51:07 AM PST by flaglady47 (Donald J.Trump, President in 2024 - DeSantis for VP (or Senior Advisor))
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To: BenLurkin

I wonder what the RPM difference is between this and conventional props on a drone?


37 posted on 02/01/2022 11:54:45 AM PST by al_c (Democrats: Party over Common Sense)
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To: BenLurkin

Propeller airplanes exhibit diminishing speeds for energy expended starting in the 450mph range. I haven’t studied the science behind it, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s caused by radial air flow. These long air augers would increase radial air flow exponentially, and would substantially decrease power efficiency. Most of the length of these auger shafts would be plagued with extremely low air pressure ....little air to move, and suction from all directions.


38 posted on 02/01/2022 12:21:14 PM PST by nagant
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Don’t feel bad. Kelly Johnson and 🦨 Skunkworks 🦨 built the U-2 and A-12,SR-71 with a Slide Ruler.


39 posted on 02/01/2022 1:13:05 PM PST by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress !!!!)
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To: mabarker1

Drawn with pencil on mylar and fabricated by high school grads running manual controlled machine tools...

I love to point that out to youngsters...


40 posted on 02/01/2022 1:15:10 PM PST by nascarnation (Let's Go Brandon!)
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