What water-management machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to lift water with a screw?

Leonardo da Vinci designed studies of an Archimedes’ screw for lifting water.

An Archimedes’ screw is a helical surface wrapped around a shaft inside a tube or trough. When the shaft turns, pockets of water move upward. Leonardo examined screw-based water-lifting devices as part of his broader interest in hydraulics, canals, drainage, and mechanical power.

The underlying machine was not Leonardo’s invention. It is traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE, although the historical origin of the device is debated. Leonardo’s contribution was to study, draw, and adapt such mechanisms within Renaissance engineering.

This water screw is distinct from Leonardo’s air screw, the famous aerial-flight concept. The water-lifting version transports liquid; the air screw was a speculative attempt to produce vertical flight.