What type of pump did Leonardo da Vinci sketch for moving water with rotating blades?

Leonardo da Vinci sketched a centrifugal pump for moving water with rotating blades.

A centrifugal pump uses a rotating impeller to accelerate liquid outward, converting rotational motion into pressure and flow. Leonardo’s water-machine studies included designs that applied rotating mechanical elements to hydraulic work. Such concepts show his continuing interest in canals, drainage, irrigation, and the controlled movement of water.

The centrifugal-pump principle became important much later as manufacturing, seals, and power sources improved. Leonardo’s sketch should not be treated as a modern electric pump or as proof that he built a complete industrial installation. It represents an early recorded attempt to apply rotational mechanics to fluid transport.

This design is also different from the Archimedes’ screw, which Leonardo studied and which lifts water through a helical surface. Both devices move water, but a centrifugal pump relies on an impeller and pressure generation rather than a screw-shaped channel.