Over the weekend, Nicole and I went to go see the da Vinci exhibit at the Buffalo Science Museum. This was something we wanted to check out in New York City last year when it came but didn’t get a chance to. Having lived here for almost 10 years, I had never been to the Science Museum before here in Buffalo, so this was going to be a fresh experience for me.
When we arrived, we thought it was closed. The main entrance was completely closed off and the only reason we knew it was open was from the cars on the side of the building in front of another entrance that was barely noticeable. When we got inside, Nicole asked the people at the front desk why it was closed off. Apparently were portions of it falling apart and it was rendered unsafe for people to use. There was no mention that it was being repaired and no signs of any work being done on it. Hopefully there is a plan in place to get it fixed soon because it is a beautiful entrance and a waste to have to use the side door. It’s probably also effecting business because it really does look closed.
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| ” I think they are closed…” |
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The exhibit was pretty cool to see. I wasn’t aware that we were able to work all of the machines that were displayed. Some of the bigger machines had locks on them which meant that the museum worker had to show you how to use it and watch you to make sure it was done correctly. I took some pictures of some of the most interesting machines.
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| This was a crane that he created. he didn’t invent the crane itself but he invented the plans to have the crane swivel 360 degrees at the base. Also he invented the locking mechanism on the gear that was responsible for raising and lowering the crane. |
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| This is the locking mechanism. Pretty cool because its something I’ve seen on a bunch of modern devices even today. |
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| I don’t remember what this does, but when you pulled the lever the big wheel would turn. |
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| Dropping the hammer. |
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| The da Vinci Machine Gun. |
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| Nicole in the first ever designed battle tank. |
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| This is the first ever designed battle tank. It was pretty awesome. They opened it up and allowed us to go inside. The tank took 4 people to move it and they had to coordinate almost like multiple people paddling a boat. |
This exhibit has been all over the world and I would definitely try to see it if you can. There were way more machines that I haven’t featured here. Some of his designs that he created during his quest for flight were really out there, but awesome. Check back in tomorrow and I should have some stuff from the Taste of Buffalo!
