Leonardo da Vinci sketched a screw pump to move water upward using rotating spiral blades.
A screw pump lifts liquid by trapping it between the turns of a rotating screw and the surrounding casing. As the screw turns, the water travels along the device to a higher level. Leonardo studied related water-lifting mechanisms while investigating canals, irrigation, and hydraulic engineering.
The principle is closely related to the ancient Archimedes’ screw, which was already known long before Leonardo. Leonardo’s importance lies in his detailed study and adaptation of mechanical devices, not in inventing every principle from the beginning.
A screw pump differs from a water wheel. A water wheel extracts energy from moving water to turn a shaft, whereas a screw pump uses mechanical rotation to raise water. That distinction helps explain why the same broad field of hydraulic engineering contains machines with opposite purposes.