We share our attempts in reviving historical aspects of calculus through the exploration of a geometric-mechanical artifact. This allows for the experience of significant steps through hands-on activities, from Leibniz’s early conception of calculus (tractional motion, 17th century) to the Enlightenment (demonstration machines, 18th century) and the realization of practical mathematics instruments (“integraphs,” 19th-20th century). Although the adopted history-based artifact has already been introduced in the literature, its effective use in education remains unclear. To explore this, we will focus on the first construction of a curve by the inverse-tangent problem, the tractrix. Despite its significant historical value, this task left participants quite unsatisfied during some previous workshops. Therefore, the need to define useful and engaging problems related to this construction has emerged. We will reflect on how we adopted such an approach in teacher training.