Leonardo da Vinci designed a diving suit for underwater breathing through tubes connected to the surface.
Leonardo sketched the equipment in the late 15th century while studying military and engineering devices. His design included a mask, breathing tubes, and a suit intended to keep water away from the diver. Some versions also show a system for collecting urine, reflecting his practical attention to long underwater missions.
The design was not a modern scuba set: it depended on air from above rather than a compressed-air tank. Leonardo also considered a leather diving apparatus with a bag-like air supply, but the surface-tube concept is the most commonly identified feature of his diving suit.
The sketches were kept among his notebooks and were not known to have been built successfully in his lifetime. Modern historians therefore describe it as an inventive concept rather than a proven working invention.