Leonardo da Vinci’s rotating machine intended to lift into the air is called the aerial screw.
Leonardo drew the aerial screw in the 1480s, probably in the Codex Atlanticus. The design has a large spiral-shaped linen surface mounted around a central mast. He wrote that, if rotated rapidly, the device might screw upward through the air in the same way a threaded screw moves through a solid material.
The aerial screw is often described as an ancestor of the helicopter, but it was not a functioning helicopter. Leonardo did not provide a practical engine or a clear method for producing enough continuous rotation. The design would also have faced major problems involving weight, structural strength, and aerodynamic lift.
Its importance is conceptual. Leonardo recognized that a rotating helical surface could interact with air to create upward force. Centuries later, powered aircraft made vertical flight possible using principles that were related in broad outline, though modern helicopters use rotor blades and controlled engines rather than Leonardo’s fabric spiral.