Machines and Technology - Drawing Machine

Leonardo da Vinci - an inventor, painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, musician, mathematician, engineer, astronomer, writer, geologist, botanist, and historian. This man was known as a "Universal Genius" for his interests and inventions on all of these fields. His creative life began in Vinci in 1452, where he was born out of wedlock to Piero da Vinci (notary) and Caterina (peasant woman). Surprisingly, his childhood education was only in a few subjects and not very in depth at all. He started an apprenticeship with Verrocchino, one of the most prominent workshops in Florence. Here, he learned more about various skills including chemistry, metal working, drafting, leather working, as well as artistic aspects like painting, drawing, and sculpture, among other various skills. Some of his most notable artworks are the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Virgin of the Rocks, and Lady with an Ermine. Earlier in life and after this apprenticeship, da Vinci had sketched a multitude of inventions that far surpassed the general knowledge of his time. He also traveled around Italy to many cities during his time to complete commissioned works for various wealthy people. He also created maps for military purposes, which further expanded his repertoire. Throughout his life, da Vinci's discoveries in science, engineering and art advanced the world so much more. Through history people have taken his designs and perfected them so that they can actually exist. He took thousands of notes and made drawings to accompany them, which shows his observational approach to learning and inventing. Among these inventions are flying machines, water systems, parachute, scuba gear, and even a piano. 

In order to create a machine that makes a drawing, Gina and I wanted to combine our interests of drawing and music in some way. To accomplish this, we decided to make a piano that makes a mark on the paper. As a music major with an emphasis in piano, Gina has a good knowledge of the physics of how a piano makes music, and in our case how it could draw on paper. To make this happen, we made a box out of cardboard binders and drilled a hole in one of the sides. To make a kind of spring in this hole, we put a styrofoam tube in so it would be able to hold a long toothpick with a cork attached to the opposite end. The part with the cork on it goes through a hole in a piece of paper that is suspended in the middle of the box. Part of the styrofoam tube is sticking out to the outside of the box, and by dropping a hammer on this exposed part, it catapults the toothpick through the hole in the paper and back down. By adding paint to the bottom of the cork, on the way down it will stamp the paper. We were influenced by various bits and pieces of Leonardo da Vinci's machines. One of them, the hammer winch, which has different hammers that go up and come down with lots of force. Also after some more research, we found that Leonardo da Vinci had made drawings of an invention called the viola organista - a bowed keyboard. We combined Leonardo da Vinci's sketches of the viola organista with a modern piano to create this machine. I think the design and idea behind our projects is a lot more interesting than the actual execution, which didn't work out as well as we had hoped. I wish our machine had worked more smoothly, however I am proud of the design and how we combined our main interests.