Leonardo da Vinci designed watermill machinery to grind grain using water power.
Leonardo studied mills, gears, and hydraulic systems throughout his notebooks. A watermill uses flowing or falling water to turn a wheel, and that rotation can be transferred through gears to machinery such as millstones. Leonardo’s drawings explored improved arrangements for water wheels, gearing, and other devices driven by moving water.
The watermill was not Leonardo’s invention: water-powered mills had existed for centuries before him. His contribution was to analyze and redesign mechanical systems with unusual detail, often seeking better efficiency and clearer transmission of motion. This distinction matters because Leonardo is frequently credited with inventing machines that he actually studied or improved. His mill drawings belong to a wider body of work on canals, pumps, locks, and hydraulic engineering.