Archimedes' screw

What it is

A helix inside an inclined cylinder that, when turned, continuously raises water or grain. A simple, robust pump still used today in treatment plants and irrigation.

Diodorus and Athenaeus attribute it to Archimedes; there are indications, little accepted, of hydraulic screws in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (7th century BCE) according to Dalley.

What it led to

• Irrigation of the Nile delta and drainage of Roman mines (Rio Tinto)
• Bilge pumping on large ships such as the Syracusia
• Introduction of the helix as a mechanical principle
• Deeper mining and drained marshy valleys

Built on

• Shadufc. 2000 BCE
• Euclidean axiomatic geometryc. 300 BCE
• Noria (waterwheel)
• Euclidean geometry

Made possible

• Force pump and fire engine (Ctesibius)c. 270 BCE
• Watermill (water wheel)c. 250 BCE
• Syracusia (Hiero II's giant ship with screw bilge pump)c. 240 BCE
• Screw pressc. 100 BCE
• Screw-cutting lathec. 1480-1568
• Archimedean screw drainage windmill1634
• Screw-adjustable wrench (Merrick and Coes)1835-1841
• Screw propeller1836-1839
• Spiral ratchet screwdriver (Yankee)1895
• Mine drainage pump
• Archimedean screw

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes%27_screw
• https://syriacstudies.com/2017/04/18/sennacherib-archimedes-and-the-water-screw-the-context-of-invention-in-the-ancient-world-s-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e-d-a-l-l-e-y-a-n-d-j-o-h-n-p-e-t-e-r-o-l-e-s-o-n/