The Journey From Wooden Pegs To Self tapping screw
The Journey From Wooden Pegs To Self tapping screw

The screw is generally held as a Greek invention. Originally made from wood their use traveled throughout the Mediterranean area for use in olive presses and wine making. Metal was a main part for this useful piece of kit and did not arrive in Europe until around the 15th Century. This is a belief held more to the discovery of ancient screwdrivers in the 1580 s rather than the screws themselves. Developed as a replacement for pins and dowels and other forms of carpentry joints, the new self tapping screw offered a much simpler way of joining two things together. With the progress made during the industrial revolution in the 18th Century it became possible to mass produce this now invaluable little item.

These days when we need to join two pieces of wood together, for example, we automatically reach for a screwdriver and a couple of self tapping screw. We know that the spiraling thread down the shaft of the screw will help in driving it forwards into the wood and will help in holding it in place. We seem to know without being told which way we need to turn the self tapping screw in order for it to tighten or unfasten. As science and industry has progressed so have the amount of different materials in use throughout homes and offices. The screw has also evolved to keep up with this advance in materials. There are now self tapping screw available with specially designed heads to allow for their use in particular environments and for specially designed purposes. When the first self tapping screw made its arrival all of those years ago it is doubtful to think that those pioneers ever thought that their simple design would be as popular as it has become.

In the 18th Century it was madness to believe that such an insignificant piece of metal would be holding half of the modern world together. Not only that, but that modern development led itself to the design of technologically advanced aerospace screws. Even the idea of man being able to leave the surface of the Earth would be beyond the bounds of belief, yet there it is. It would be interesting to know just how many small metal screws are orbiting the planet at the moment and how the original pioneers of the industrial revolution would view their use. We may take these small metal fasteners for granted but when they were originally developed they were new and amazing and a part of a scientific and technological revolution that affected the entire world for every future generation. http://www.wdfastener.com/product.php