Screwdrivers

[bloomsgal]

How did ancient greeks drive in screws before the screwdriver?

[GuavaHalf]

who says that they didn't have screwdrivers?

[johnefitz]

good point.... also, who said they had screws? Surely you can't have one without the other??

[rinkytink]

If they did have screws, there is no reason why the head of such screws had to be the same as they are now. So, it depends on what your screwhead is like as to what your screwdriver will look like.

[rinkytink]

Okay done a bit of research:

History. Some historians claim a Greek philosopher and mathematician named Archytas, who lived about 400 B.C., invented the screw. The ancient Greeks used screws for various purposes. The Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes supposedly developed a machine that uses a screw to raise water (see Archimedean screw ). The ancient Greeks also developed the screw press, a device consisting of two flat surfaces connected with screws. Tightening the screws brings the surfaces together and puts increasing pressure on whatever is placed between the surfaces. The Greeks used the screw press to squeeze juice from grapes to make wine and from olives to produce oil. For many centuries, screws were made with simple hand tools. But during the 1500's, engineers developed the screw-cutting lathe, a machine that permitted more efficient and precise production of wooden and metal screws. Screws then began to replace nails and pegs as fasteners in joining hinges and other metal items to wood and in holding together parts of locks, watches, and other articles. Advancements in techniques for cutting finer, more exact threads led to the adoption in the mid-1800's of the first standardized screw thread. Screws with points that could be easily twisted through wood also appeared during the 1800's. Previously, all screws had flat ends and could be inserted only in specially drilled holes.

SCREW YOU !

[BenDToy]

My mate who is a joiner, calls them curly nails, and complains that he needs a bigger hammer to get them to go in!! :-)

[Sylday]

Hammers are sometimes known as Brummagem (ie Birmingham) screwdrivers, as a tribute to the ingenuity of your average Midlands craftsman.

[woofgang]

It has been my understanding that originally screws were inserted with a hammer and the screwdriver was originally invented to remove them. Not sure if this is true?

[humming bird]

Pity that last comment took the edge off a great letter from rinkytink, I thought aha..an educating man..then..tut tut tut ..he couldn't help himself! The question was not about screws but screwdrivers. The original design was a concept. Bars through embellishments at one end of the screwed section have been common throughout the epochs since then.Wheels also were later used , hubbed onto the screwed section. Even today some furniture uses the French style screw threaded bar with a hole in one end (bulb shaped) to insert the bar and turn to join furniture sections. Flat tipped screwdrivers, by the way, have become most effective as a common tool since concave grinding of the tips was introduced. The question as to when "philips" and various other "proprietary" tips were introduced might be an interesting question, as would does the originating group still receive licence fees for the screws with such heads;..did they ever?. By the way few people invent items totally without a clue of how to use it and especially in the machining area.The concept is one of necessity or improvement. Cheers