What type of artillery did Leonardo da Vinci design with three barrels arranged in parallel?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a triple-barrel cannon with three barrels arranged in parallel. The concept was intended to increase the speed and volume of artillery fire compared with a single-barrel gun.

Multiple barrels could be loaded in sequence, allowing one barrel to fire while the others were being prepared. Leonardo’s military notebooks contain several studies of firearms and artillery, reflecting Renaissance interest in improving battlefield equipment. His drawings often focus on mechanisms, arrangement, and rapid operation rather than documenting a completed production weapon.

The design should not be confused with a modern revolver or a machine gun. Three fixed barrels do not provide continuous automatic fire, and the weapon would still have faced the slow loading and safety problems of early gunpowder artillery. There is no firm evidence that Leonardo’s triple-barrel design became a standard battlefield arm.

Leonardo also drew other multi-barrel weapons, so descriptions can vary among modern summaries. The defining feature here is the specific arrangement of three parallel cannon barrels.