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Leonardo’s Diving Suit

Human imagination has always driven innovation. Even in Leonardo’s day, systems for working at a deep level underwater were already being studied. Leonardo devised a leather diving suit. Cane hoses fixed together by leather joints enabled the diver to breathe. Steel spirals were inserted into the joints so as to prevent them from being crushed by the pressure of the water. The tubes used for breathing stuck out of the water and were held in place and protected by a dedicated floating device.

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This folio, showing a detail of a deep-sea diving suit, is focussed on a series of military actions planned against the enemy fleet - probably the Turks. The outfit envisaged for the diver is illustrated in the caption above: a heavy coat, trousers and a mask with glass lenses. A pouch in the heavy coat, intended to contain a store of air in a leather bag, is supported by a structure of iron rings. Expecting the store of air to last for a long time, Leonardo also envisaged a leather bottle for the diver to urinate in, a leather bag, hermetically sealed and provided with a valve, to be inflated or deflated for surfacing or diving, as well as sandbags used as ballast, a long rope, a knife and a horn for signalling that the work underwater was finished.