Nowadays, many things are held together with screws. Look around your home and everything you see—from furniture to food processors—is held together by screws. Spirals were invented over 2,000 years ago, but have been used to secure things for less than 500 years.
The first person to describe a spiral was the Greek scientist Archimedes (about 287 BC - 212 BC). Archimedes' spiral is a huge spiral inside a wooden cylinder used to raise water from one level to another to irrigate fields.
Its real inventor may not be Archimedes himself. Maybe he was just describing something that already existed. Perhaps it was designed by the skilled craftsmen of ancient Egypt to use water from both sides of the Nero River for irrigation.
Archimedes' spiral was used to carry water throughout ancient society, and no one thought about turning it into a fixed piece.
Right: Archimedean spirals are widely used to lift water. For example, the ancient Romans used it to drain mines.
In the Middle Ages, carpenters used wooden or metal nails to join furniture to wooden buildings. In the 16th century, nailmakers began producing spiral nails that could join things more securely. That's a small step from such nails to screws. By the end of the 18th century, screws had become quite popular as fasteners because a cheap production method had been found.
The screwdriver (screw chisel) appeared in London around 1780. Carpenters have found that tightening screws with a screwdriver can fix things better than hitting them with a hammer, especially when it comes to fine-grained screws.
Although it is just a small fastener, screws have never stopped improving. As early as the 3rd century AD, the Greek mathematician Archimedes invented the thread, but it was not until the 15th century that the first screw appeared, and it is not known who its inventor was. There were wood screws in 1550, but the screwdriver wasn't invented until 1774.
In 1936, Henry M. Philips applied for a patent for a screw with a cross-recessed head, which marked a major advancement in screw technology. Unlike traditional slotted head screws, cross recessed head screws have a cross recessed edge on the head of the screw. This design makes the screwdriver self-centering and less likely to slip, making it very popular.