What water-lifting device did Leonardo da Vinci design using a helical screw?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and designed versions of Archimedes’ screw for lifting water.

An Archimedes’ screw uses a helical surface inside a cylinder or around a shaft. When the screw turns, water is carried upward from a lower level to a higher one. Leonardo’s notebooks include studies of screw-shaped water pumps and related hydraulic machinery.

The basic principle 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 examine, draw, and adapt the mechanism within his broader investigations of water engineering.

This distinction matters because Leonardo is often credited with inventing every machine he illustrated. In this case, the historically accurate description is that he designed or studied improved versions of an ancient water-lifting device.