Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying shuttle to shuttle thread across the warp.
A shuttle carries the weft thread through the lengthwise warp threads of a loom. In Leonardo's textile studies, a mechanical shuttle concept was intended to move rapidly from side to side, reducing the need for a weaver to pass the shuttle manually.
The later flying shuttle is strongly associated with John Kay, who patented his improved version in 1733. It increased weaving speed and allowed wider cloth to be produced by one operator. Leonardo's earlier sketches show that related mechanical ideas had been explored in the Renaissance, but they should not be confused with Kay's documented industrial patent.
The term “flying shuttle” can therefore refer either to the general mechanism or to Kay's later commercial invention. In Leonardo's case, it describes the shuttle component of a loom, not a complete automated weaving factory.