What kind of pump did Leonardo da Vinci study for raising water through a rotating screw mechanism?

Leonardo da Vinci studied Archimedes’ screw as a rotating screw mechanism for raising water.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface inside a tube or cylinder. When the screw turns, pockets of water move upward along the helix, allowing water to be lifted from a lower level to a higher one. Leonardo examined hydraulic machines and recorded related mechanical studies in his notebooks.

The device was not Leonardo’s original invention. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE, although the exact ancient history of the mechanism is debated. Leonardo’s contribution was his detailed Renaissance investigation and representation of hydraulic principles.

This mechanism differs from a centrifugal pump, which uses rapidly rotating impellers to accelerate fluid outward. The screw’s defining action is the upward transport of water along a helical channel.