Engineering Excellence - Pole-Erecting Machine

This is a simple version of a machine for erecting pillars and poles. Leonardo drew on earlier designs by the Italian engineer Francesco Martini, among others.
The base of the pillar rests on a two-wheeled wagon that can be pulled forward either by a horizontal rope or an oblique one. The horizontal rope, winding around a pulley, which is attached to the winch system, requires less effort because the total amount of friction remains the same as the pillar rises. If an oblique rope is used, however, the force exerted on the rope increases continuously, and, at the end, all the weight of the pillar is on the rope itself.