Leonardo da Vinci designed cranes with large wooden wheels for lifting heavy loads.
His engineering drawings show hoisting machines that used treadwheel-like mechanisms, gears, ropes, and lifting hooks. Workers could turn the large wheel, converting their effort into the force needed to raise stone, timber, or other heavy materials.
These designs built on older lifting technology rather than creating the crane concept from nothing. Treadwheel cranes had been used in ancient and medieval construction. Leonardo’s contribution was his detailed analysis of gearing, leverage, balance, and practical machine arrangements.
A crane is different from a catapult, which stores and releases energy to throw a projectile. Leonardo studied both civilian and military machines, so his notebooks contain many devices that can look similar at a glance. His crane sketches are especially valuable because they show how Renaissance engineers refined construction equipment through mechanical design.