What Leonardo da Vinci invention used a chain and buckets to raise water?

Leonardo da Vinci’s bucket chain pump used a continuous chain carrying buckets to raise water.

As the chain moved around wheels, the buckets descended into a lower reservoir, filled, and travelled upward before emptying into a higher channel or container. This made the device suitable for drainage, irrigation, and construction work where water had to be lifted steadily.

Leonardo investigated many pumping systems because water management was central to Renaissance engineering. Canals needed excavation and maintenance, cities required controlled water flow, and building sites sometimes needed drainage. His drawings compare mechanical arrangements and show how motion could be transferred through wheels, shafts, and chains.

A bucket chain pump differs from an Archimedes’ screw, which carries water along a rotating spiral. It also differs from a water wheel, which is mainly powered by flowing water and does not necessarily lift water itself. Leonardo’s design was a study and refinement of established hydraulic machinery.