What hydraulic machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to raise water using a screw mechanism?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a water-raising machine based on the Archimedes’ screw.

An Archimedes’ screw uses a helical surface inside a tube or around a cylinder to move water upward as the screw rotates. Leonardo studied and redesigned screw-based water-lifting devices in his engineering notebooks, adapting the ancient principle for canals, drainage, and other hydraulic work.

The underlying invention predates Leonardo and is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo’s contribution was not the original discovery of the screw principle, but his detailed investigation, drawings, and proposals for practical mechanical arrangements.

This device should not be confused with Leonardo’s aerial screw, which was a flight concept and is excluded here. The water screw operates by transporting liquid along a rotating helix; it does not generate lift or function as an aircraft.