A miter gate is the type of canal lock gate associated with Leonardo da Vinci’s engineering work.
Miter gates are paired gates that meet at an angle pointing upstream. Water pressure pushes the gates together, helping them seal the lock chamber. This arrangement became a fundamental feature of navigable canals and remains recognizable in many lock systems.
Leonardo worked on canal and water-management projects in northern Italy, especially around Milan. He studied ways to control water levels and improve navigation, and he is often credited with developing or refining practical lock-gate arrangements. The precise history of the idea is more complex than the claim that Leonardo invented every part of it.
A miter gate is not the same as a sluice gate. Sluices control water through an opening, while miter gates close the navigable chamber itself. Leonardo’s water-engineering studies also included canals, pumps, and other hydraulic mechanisms.