What water-powered machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to raise water from one level to another?

Leonardo da Vinci designed and studied an Archimedes’ screw for raising water from a lower level to a higher one.

The machine consists of a helical surface enclosed in a tube or cylinder. As the screw rotates, water is carried upward along the spiral and discharged at the top. It can be powered by people, animals, wind, or another machine.

The principle was ancient, traditionally associated with Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo’s contribution was not inventing the original concept but examining, drawing, and adapting screw-based water-lifting machinery during the Renaissance.

This device is different from the continuous-flow water machine often attributed to Leonardo in popular quizzes. The Archimedes’ screw is specifically a lifting mechanism: it moves water upward through repeated rotation rather than simply directing it through a channel.