What Leonardo da Vinci design used a screw to force water upward?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and designed versions of Archimedes’ screw to force water upward.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface inside a tube or around a shaft. As the screw turns, water is carried upward along the spiral and discharged at a higher level. Leonardo drew such mechanisms while investigating pumps, irrigation, drainage, and other forms of hydraulic engineering.

The device was ancient by Leonardo’s time and is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse. Leonardo therefore did not invent the basic screw pump. His notebooks show how he analyzed, modified, and combined established mechanisms for new practical applications.

The machine could move water continuously, unlike a bucket that must be lifted and emptied separately. Modern screw pumps still use the same broad principle in wastewater treatment, drainage, and irrigation.