Leonardo da Vinci designed a bucket chain pump to raise water through a continuous chain of containers.
In a chain pump, linked buckets or scoops move around a loop. As the chain travels, the containers carry water upward and discharge it at the top. Leonardo studied versions powered by cranks, gears, or water wheels, adapting the mechanism for irrigation, drainage, and other hydraulic work.
The device is not the same as Archimedes’ screw, which lifts water along a rotating helical surface. It also differs from a force pump, which uses pistons and valves to pressurize water. A bucket chain pump handles water by repeated physical lifting.
Chain pumps existed before Leonardo, including forms used in ancient China and elsewhere. Leonardo’s significance is his detailed investigation of hydraulic machinery and his attempts to make such mechanisms more efficient and practical.