Leonardo da Vinci designed crane mechanisms with rotating platforms, gears, ropes, and lifting devices.
His engineering notebooks contain studies of cranes for raising heavy materials at building sites. A rotating base allowed the load to be moved sideways, while ropes, pulleys, and geared mechanisms provided mechanical advantage. These features made a crane more versatile than a simple fixed hoist.
Leonardo did not invent the basic crane. Ancient Greeks and Romans had already used lifting machines, and medieval builders developed many forms of treadwheel crane. His contribution was to analyze and redesign mechanisms with exceptional detail, improving ideas for control, reach, and power transmission.
A crane lifts and moves loads, while a winch primarily winds rope and a pulley changes force direction or provides mechanical advantage. Leonardo’s crane studies belong to his larger interest in construction machinery.