As you go through your day, you may pass by all kinds of bolts and screws and not give them a second thought. However, without these handy fasteners, many things could not exist. Here is a brief history of the nut, bolt, and screw, which you may find interesting.
Bolt and Screws in the Past
There is little information about threaded bolts and nuts until the 1400s when the first mention of screws was printed and published. However, plain bolts go back many centuries, all the way to the time of ancient Rome. Plain bolts were used as door locks, and the Romans may have used handmade screws.
The history of screws may go back even farther than the ancient Roman Empire, according to Bill Eccles (a technical specialist at Bolt Science). It is possible, bolts were used in ancient Egypt and during the time of Archimedes.
Leonardo Da Vinci made sketches of a screw cutting machine around 1500. It consisted of handles and gears and could be used to make threaded screws. However, this is not proof screws were used then, as Da Vinci also made drawings of airplanes long before the Wright brothers made their famous flight in Kitty Hawk, NC.
Industrial Revolution
In 1568, the first screw making machine appeared in France and by the mid-1600s had been improved used for many purposes. For a long time, the bolt and screws production process was cumbersome and difficult. By the year 1760, Watt came up with a way to mass produce screws. Yet, each manufacturer made their own threads, so there were no standards to follow.
Today
The humble fasteners have come a long way today. Thanks to ISO standards, nuts, bolts, and screws are easy to purchase, and you can find fasteners for just about any purpose. Specialty fasteners can withstand corrosion and hold concrete and steel together.
