Leonardo da Vinci designed a covered, conical armored vehicle powered by soldiers turning cranks.
The machine is usually called Leonardo’s fighting vehicle or armored vehicle. His drawing shows a broad, sloping protective shell mounted on wheels, with weapons positioned around its perimeter. The sloped exterior could help deflect incoming projectiles.
The vehicle was intended to move when people inside turned cranks connected to the wheels. Historians have noted a famous apparent problem in the drawing: the gears, as shown, would not make the wheels turn correctly. Some researchers think the error may have been deliberate, hiding the workable mechanism from unauthorized readers.
It was a design, not a tank that Leonardo field-tested. Modern tanks use engines, tracks or specialized wheels, armor, and crew systems developed for industrial warfare. Leonardo’s vehicle is still an important early example of combining mobility, protection, and weapons.