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FLORENCE, Italy, April 26 (UPI) -- It took 500 years to decipher, but Italian scientists have made a working model of a self-powered car designed by the genius of Leonardo da Vinci.
The result is a wooden cart 3 feet, 4 inches long that can move by itself and is on display at the Museum of Science History in Florence until June, the BBC reported Monday.
Described and pictured in his famous "Atlanticus Codex" manuscript, the vehicle had baffled scholars, who all thought the motor apparatus came from two leaf springs.
But scientist Carlo Pedretti had a hunch that the mechanism to propel the cart came from two completely different springs inside drums beneath the wagon.
The leaf springs engineers had always focused on were actually a rudimentary steering system.
Pedretti said he believes the vehicle was probably designed only as an amusement for royalty.
Other inventions in Leonardo's papers include drawings and instructions to construct a bicycle and a submarine.
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