The Leonardo da Vinci design using a rotating drum to draw water from a low level was a bucket wheel.
Leonardo sketched water-lifting machines that used a rotating wheel or drum fitted with containers. As the wheel turned, buckets dipped into a lower water source, rose while filled, and emptied into a channel or reservoir at the top. This created a continuous lifting process rather than requiring a worker to raise individual containers by hand.
Bucket-based lifting systems were useful for irrigation, drainage, and construction. Leonardo’s drawings show his interest in adapting rotary motion to practical hydraulic work. The precise arrangement and scale varied among related designs, so the general term bucket wheel is more accurate than treating every sketch as one standardized machine.
A bucket wheel differs from a water wheel: a water wheel is driven by flowing water, while a bucket wheel uses rotation to lift water or material. It also differs from a screw, which moves water along a helical surface.