What water-lifting machine did Leonardo da Vinci study using a spiral screw inside a cylinder?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and improved the Archimedes’ screw, a water-lifting machine with a spiral inside a cylinder.

The device consists of a helical surface wrapped around a central shaft. When the screw rotates, water is carried upward along the spiral channel. It can drain low ground, raise water for irrigation, or move fluids through a controlled incline. Leonardo’s notebooks include investigations of screws and hydraulic machinery as part of his study of water and mechanical motion.

The invention was not originally Leonardo’s. It is traditionally attributed to Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician and engineer, although the exact early history is debated. Leonardo’s contribution was to analyze, draw, and develop mechanical applications rather than claim the ancient device as a wholly new invention.

This water screw is distinct from Leonardo’s aerial screw. The water version transports liquid upward; the aerial design was a proposed lifting machine for flight. Similar spiral geometry does not mean the two machines had the same purpose.