
The Dreams of an Inventor in 1420 (2018) - 80mph
https://publicdomainreview.org/2018/01/24/the-dreams-of-an-inventor-in-1420/
======
cabaalis
Death star, complete with trench, with starfighters fleeing as it explodes. He
was indeed visionary :)

------
xaedes
His vehicle ideas are also fascinating:

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=40)

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=80)

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=82)

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=37)

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=29)

[https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/im...](https://daten.digitale-
sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?seite=30)

I interpret the last two images as controlled projectile vehicles that move
along with the usual ship traffic, but with the power of fire!

------
agsilvio
I enjoyed that. Fascinating drawings

------
DoctorOetker
Many of these seem to describe performances or theatrical props.

>They use some of the forces and themes mentioned above — hydraulics, fire,
and flexible or interlocking parts. But because cross section and other visual
techniques such as perspective were not used by (and likely not known to)
Fontana and perhaps also because his imagination exceeded his skills, what he
meant to make and how he thought it was to be done remain something of a
mystery. His captions, written in code, do not help much because they describe
the function he intended them to perform rather than explain how they were
actually constructed or operated.

Is it just me or does the code script or alphabet look a lot like the Voynuch
manuscript? Could the Voyneuch manuscript have been based on this book?

Fontana:

[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4753/27950680369_89fb9a46e6_o...](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4753/27950680369_89fb9a46e6_o.jpg)

[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4669/39822484052_e6c9686e64_b...](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4669/39822484052_e6c9686e64_b.jpg)

[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4622/25857692428_4f255d1032_b...](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4622/25857692428_4f255d1032_b.jpg)

[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4611/39857848872_495b4eb26e_b...](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4611/39857848872_495b4eb26e_b.jpg)

Voynuch:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Voynich_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Voynich_Manuscript_%28119%29.jpg)

Perhaps theater groups needed books to describe their ideas, performance,
perhaps even dialogues, but wanted to simultaneously protect them to prevent
them from being copied? If they traveled a large part of the year and never
stay put it is hard to prevent others from copying you, but witnessing a
single long immensely decorated show would be too much information to copy, so
one just needed to protect the knowledge (which might need to be written down,
in case an actor or theatre engineer dies,...?)

VM is full of naked ladies in vats and pipes of water, which I never
understood but this article explains:

>In addition to his fiery constructions, Fontana also designed many fountains
and other hydraulic devices. Before modern water infrastructure, water sources
were more visible in people’s lives than they are now. The importance of water
and the fragility of its supply were not hidden by massive administrative
schemes. Water was life, and it was danger, too.

so perhaps the VM is also about theatrical performances for the church or the
elites? ("Your tithes at work.")

