What water-control device did Leonardo da Vinci improve with a screw-shaped mechanism?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and improved the water-lifting device known as Archimedes’ screw.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface inside a cylinder or trough. Turning the screw carries water upward from a lower level to a higher one. Leonardo explored related screw mechanisms in his notebooks and used them as examples of how rotation could perform useful work.

The device was not Leonardo’s invention. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo’s contribution was to analyze, draw, and adapt screw-based machinery during the Renaissance.

Archimedes’ screws remain useful for moving water, wastewater, grain, and other materials. Their slow, continuous action can be gentler than pumping with high-speed machinery. The historical connection is therefore an example of Leonardo developing an ancient technology rather than inventing it from nothing.