Leonardo da Vinci studied and designed water-lifting devices based on Archimedes’ screw.
An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface inside a tube or around a cylinder. When the screw rotates, water is carried upward along the spiral. Leonardo’s notebooks include studies of screw-based mechanisms and other machines for raising or moving water.
The underlying principle was ancient and was traditionally associated with the Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes. Leonardo did not invent the basic screw pump, but he analyzed mechanical systems and explored how related designs could be used in engineering.
This distinction matters because Leonardo is often credited with every machine he drew. His contribution was frequently the investigation, adaptation, and detailed representation of earlier ideas. The screw mechanism remains useful in irrigation, drainage, wastewater treatment, and industrial handling of materials.