Leonardo da Vinci’s wheeled device was designed to use springs as its power source.
Leonardo’s mechanical lion is commonly described as a wheeled automaton powered by springs. The device was created for ceremonial display and could move forward through stored mechanical energy released by its internal mechanism. At a planned presentation, the lion was intended to open its chest and reveal fleurs-de-lis.
The animal was associated with Leonardo’s work for the French royal court, particularly a celebration connected with King Francis I in 1515. Descriptions of the original mechanism are incomplete, and the surviving evidence comes from historical accounts and later reconstructions.
The lion is different from Leonardo’s mechanical knight. The knight was an armored human-shaped machine drawn around 1495, while the lion was a later ceremonial automaton. Neither machine used electricity or steam; both belong to the tradition of Renaissance clockwork and spring-powered automata.