What water-powered machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to help lift water?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a water-powered machine based on the Archimedes’ screw to help lift water.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface wrapped around a central shaft inside a tube or trough. When the screw turns, pockets of water are carried upward. Leonardo studied and redrew screw-based lifting devices while investigating hydraulics, canals, drainage, and irrigation.

The underlying principle was ancient rather than Leonardo’s invention. Ancient Greek tradition associates the device with Archimedes, and similar screw mechanisms had been used for centuries before Leonardo. Leonardo’s contribution was his detailed mechanical analysis and adaptation of established ideas to Renaissance engineering problems.

This water-lifting screw is entirely different from the aerial screw, Leonardo’s famous rotary flying-machine concept. The two designs share a helical form, but one moves water and the other was imagined as a means of lifting a machine through air.