What pumping device did Leonardo da Vinci study for raising water?

Leonardo da Vinci studied the Archimedes’ screw as a device for raising water.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a spiral surface inside a tube or around a central shaft. When the screw rotates, pockets of water move upward along the spiral. Leonardo drew and analyzed screw-based water-lifting machines as part of his broader studies of hydraulics.

The device was already ancient when Leonardo examined it. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE, although the precise origin of the mechanism is debated. Leonardo’s contribution was not inventing the principle but documenting, adapting, and applying it within Renaissance engineering.

The screw works best for lifting water through a relatively modest height. It is different from a water wheel, which uses moving water to produce rotation. Leonardo’s water studies also included canals, pumps, fountains, and machines for managing floods and irrigation.