"Recently Westview Elementary Art students spent a class period studying the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. Students not only learned about the artworks of da Vinci, they also spent some time looking at the sketches and inventions by this genius of the Renaissance period. Among the existing 7000 pages are ideas and inventions that would not come into existence for hundreds of years.
One such invention was a self-supporting bridge that is referred to as the 'da Vinci' bridge.
Cesare Borgia, a great Italian military leader, commissioned Leonardo Da Vinci as his military engineer and had him design various machines of war that he could use for his army.
Da Vinci created a simple bridge that required no nails or ropes to hold it together – it was completely self-supporting.
The design would allow for the militia to easily construct it to ford obstacles with no bridge-building skills needed.
Westview students spent time in the Art room studying a smaller prototype of the bridge and then went outdoors to construct their own larger bridge in groups.
Mr. Keiser would like to thank parents, Allen & Kelli Bontrager for donating the wood to construct the bridges."