That was one of the first 3D printers that existed. If you look at the RepRap history, one of the first prototypes was mechano, with a single circular stage driven by a piece of allthread. There was a rotational axis, and an X axis, basically. Wait, what about Z you said? – It was part of the allthread. To go up in Z you HAD to spiral.

You can find that history here: https://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/a/a5/A_History_of_RepRap_Development.pdf

The machine I’m talking about is on page 40 and I think page 71.

This was FOREVER ago back when we weren’t even printing with filament yet. We actually had to go to plastic welding rod suppliers, and sometimes the ‘filament’ would have ball-bearings in it, and all sorts of gnarly shit.