Leonardo da Vinci designed cranes to lift heavy loads using wheels, gears, and mechanical advantage.
Leonardo's engineering notebooks contain several crane concepts for construction and excavation. Some use a large rotating wheel or treadwheel that workers could operate, while others combine pulleys, screws, and counterweights. These mechanisms multiplied human effort and controlled the movement of stone or building materials.
A crane is not the same as a winch. A winch winds a rope around a drum, whereas a crane is a broader lifting machine that may include a boom, pulley, and hoisting mechanism. Leonardo studied both kinds of components and incorporated them into different designs.
His crane drawings show how Renaissance engineering connected observation with practical construction. They were proposals and studies rather than evidence that one standardized Leonardo crane was built. The designs nevertheless preserve important ideas about leverage, gearing, and controlled lifting.