Leonardo da Vinci designed cranes for lifting heavy loads in construction.
His engineering drawings show cranes that combine masts, booms, ropes, pulleys, and winding mechanisms. Some designs could rotate or adjust their reach, allowing workers to position stones and other materials more precisely. The machines were intended to reduce the labor required to raise heavy building components.
Leonardo did not invent the basic idea of the crane. Ancient civilizations used lifting devices, and medieval builders developed many forms of hoists and treadwheel cranes. Leonardo’s contribution was his detailed analysis of mechanisms and his willingness to improve the way parts worked together.
A crane is a lifting machine, while a winch is primarily a winding device and a pulley is a wheel used to redirect or multiply force. Leonardo’s sketches include all of these elements, which can cause confusion when individual drawings are given different labels. The broad, standard category for his construction-lifting machines is crane.