History
The screw was one of the last of the simple machines to be invented. It first appeared in ancient Greece, and by the first century BCE was used in the form of the screw press and the Archimedes screw, but when it was invented is unknown. Greek philosopher Archytas of Tarrentum (428 - 347 BCE) was said by the Greeks to have invented the screw. The Greek philosopher Archimedes is credited with inventing the Archimedes' screw water pump around 234 BCE, although there is evidence it may have come from Egypt. Archimedes was first to study the screw as a machine, so he is sometimes considered the inventor of the screw. Greek philosophers defined the screw as one of the simple machines and could calculate its (ideal) mechanical advantage. For example, Heron of Alexandria (52 CE) listed the screw as one of the five mechanisms that could "set a load in motion", defined it as an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder, and described its fabrication and use, including a tap for cutting female screw threads.
Screw fasteners began to be used in the 15th century, in clocks, after screw-cutting lathes were developed. The screw was apparently applied to drilling and moving materials (besides water) around this time also, when images of augers and drills began to appear in European paintings. The complete dynamic theory of simple machines, including the screw, was worked out by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in Le Meccaniche ("On Mechanics").
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