What Leonardo da Vinci machine used a large screw to pump water upward?

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

An Archimedes’ screw is a helical surface inside a cylinder or trough. As the screw rotates, pockets of water are carried upward along the spiral and discharged at a higher level. Leonardo drew screw-based water-lifting machines and investigated their mechanical operation as part of his broader interest in hydraulics.

The underlying invention predates Leonardo by many centuries. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo therefore did not originate the principle, but his notebooks contain important studies and adaptations of screw pumps and water-moving devices.

The machine was useful for irrigation, drainage, and construction. It is different from a water wheel, which extracts energy from moving water, and from a modern pump driven by pistons or rotating impellers. Screw pumps remain in use today, including in wastewater and flood-control systems.