Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw was a rotating design often compared with a helicopter.
Leonardo sketched the machine in the 1480s, probably around 1489. The drawing shows a large helical rotor made from reeds, linen, and wire, supported by a circular platform. Leonardo reasoned that the rotating screw might “screw” itself upward through the air, much as a screw moves through a solid material.
The concept is historically important, but it was not a working helicopter. The proposed machine was too large and heavy for the human-powered mechanisms shown or implied in Renaissance engineering. Modern helicopters rely on powered rotors, lightweight materials, and carefully designed blades.
The aerial screw is sometimes described as an early helicopter, but “helicopter” is a modern comparison rather than Leonardo’s own name. Its significance lies in the attempt to explain vertical flight mechanically, centuries before practical rotorcraft were developed.