What water-lifting device did Leonardo da Vinci study using a rotating spiral?

Leonardo da Vinci studied the Archimedes’ screw as a water-lifting device using a rotating spiral.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface inside a cylinder or around a shaft. When the screw turns, water is carried upward through the spaces between the spiral and its housing. The device can drain low-lying land, raise water for irrigation, or move other loose materials.

The machine was traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo did not invent the ancient screw, but he drew and investigated related spiral mechanisms as part of his engineering studies. His notebooks show that he examined how rotation could perform useful work.

This device is different from Leonardo’s aerial screw. The water screw moves liquid through a channel, while the aerial screw was a proposed flying machine intended to rise through rotating motion.