What water-lifting machine did Leonardo da Vinci improve using a continuous spiral?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and improved the Archimedes' screw, a water-lifting machine using a continuous spiral.

The device consists of a helical surface inside a tube or around a central shaft. When rotated, it carries water upward from a lower level to a higher one. Leonardo's notebooks contain studies of screw mechanisms and hydraulic machines, including forms related to this ancient technology.

The invention was not originally Leonardo's: the machine is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo's contribution was his detailed mechanical analysis and redesign work during the Renaissance. The screw is different from a water wheel, which extracts energy from moving water rather than lifting water through a rotating helix.