Which Leonardo da Vinci design used a spiral screw to pump water upward?

Leonardo da Vinci studied and designed versions of Archimedes’ screw to pump water upward.

An Archimedes’ screw consists of a helical surface or blade inside a cylinder. When the screw rotates, water is carried upward along the spiral channel. Leonardo examined the device as part of his extensive investigations into hydraulics, water management, and mechanical engineering. His notebooks include studies of screws and related machinery rather than evidence that he invented the ancient principle.

The name is important: the basic water screw is traditionally associated with the Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes, who lived in the third century BCE. Leonardo’s contribution was to analyze, adapt, and represent hydraulic machines within Renaissance engineering. The device differs from Leonardo’s aerial screw, whose purpose was proposed vertical flight rather than pumping. Archimedes’ screws remain useful in modern water and wastewater systems because they can lift fluid with relatively gentle handling and tolerate debris better than some pump designs.