Leonardo da Vinci designed a paddle boat with paddle wheels intended to propel a vessel through water.
His notebooks contain several ideas for improving water transport, including boats operated by wheels, gears, and cranks. In a paddle-boat concept, operators turn mechanisms that drive broad paddles against the water. The arrangement sought to replace or supplement ordinary oars and could potentially provide more regular propulsion from a smaller number of crew members.
Leonardo’s design should not be confused with a later paddle steamer. Steam-powered paddle boats became practical centuries afterward, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. Leonardo’s proposal relied on human power and mechanical transmission, not steam. Because the surviving sketches are often grouped with his broader hydraulic and naval studies, reconstructions may differ in details such as the number of wheels, the gearing, and the crew’s position.