Leonardo da Vinci's design using a screw-shaped rotor to rise through the air was the aerial screw.
Leonardo drew the aerial screw in a manuscript dated to about 1489. The design had a large helical surface made from reeds, linen, and wire. He reasoned that if the screw rotated quickly enough, its surface would bite into the air and lift the machine.
The aerial screw is often described as a distant precursor to the helicopter because it uses a rotating lifting surface. However, Leonardo did not build a powered prototype, and the materials and human power available in the fifteenth century could not have produced the required lift.
It is also commonly called Leonardo's helicopter or helicopter design, but those labels can be misleading. The modern helicopter depends on powered rotor blades and controlled flight. Leonardo's sketch is better understood as an imaginative aerodynamic concept that anticipated the general idea of vertical lift.