What Leonardo da Vinci device used a screw to force water upward for irrigation?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and designed versions of the Archimedes’ screw, a device that moves water upward with a rotating spiral.

The machine consists of a helical surface inside a tube or around a central shaft. As the screw turns, water is carried upward through the spaces between the spiral and its casing. Leonardo investigated such mechanisms as part of his broader work on hydraulics, canals, pumps, and water management.

The device was not originally invented by Leonardo. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo’s contribution was to study, improve, and depict mechanical versions within Renaissance engineering.

The screw was useful for irrigation, drainage, and raising water to higher channels. It differs from a water wheel, which extracts power from moving water, because the Archimedes’ screw consumes mechanical energy to transport water upward. That distinction helps identify the invention described in Leonardo’s hydraulic studies.