What water-lifting machine did Leonardo da Vinci design with a chain of containers?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a bucket-chain pump with containers arranged on a continuous chain.

As the chain moves, buckets or similar vessels dip into a lower water source, rise, and discharge water at a higher level. This arrangement allows repeated lifting without manually carrying individual buckets. Leonardo’s hydraulic studies included pumps and water-raising devices for canals, irrigation, drainage, and construction.

The machine belongs to a long history of bucket-chain mechanisms. Similar devices were known before Leonardo, so it should not be described as his wholly original invention. His contribution was to study, draw, and adapt mechanical systems with careful attention to motion, gearing, and practical use.

The bucket-chain pump is different from the Archimedes screw, which raises water inside a rotating helical surface. It is also different from a modern reciprocating pump, which uses valves and repeated piston strokes. Leonardo’s drawings frequently explore several ways to solve the same hydraulic problem.