18. Quoted in A. G. Drachmann, “The Screw of Archimedes,” Actes de VIIIe Congrès International d’Histoire des Sciences, Florence-Milan, 3–9 septembre 1956, vol. 3 (Florence: Vinci, 1958), 940–41.
19. John Peter Oleson, Greek and Roman Mechanical Water-Lifting Devices: The History of Technology (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1984), 297, 365.
20. Humphrey et al., Greek and Roman Technology, 317.
21. William Giles Nash, The Rio Tinto Mine: Its History and Romance (London: Simpkin Marshall Hamilton Kent & Co., 1904), 35.
22. Diodorus Siculus, The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian; in Fifteen Books, trans. G. Booth (London: W. M’Dowall for J. Davis, 1814).
23. See Drachmann, Mechanical Technology, 154.
24. Vitruvius, Ten Books, 297.
25. Joseph Needham and Wang Ling, Science and Civilization in China, Introductory Orientations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 241.
TEXT ILLUSTRATION SOURCES
Page 22: A History of Technology: Vol. II, The Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages c. 700 B.C. to c. A.D. 1500, eds. Charles Joseph Singer et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 152; 42: Kenneth D. Roberts, Some 19th Century English Woodworking Tools: Edge & Joiner Tools and Bit Braces (Fitzwilliam, N.H.: Ken Roberts Publishing Co., 1980), 234; 50: The Various and Ingenious Machines of Agostino Ramelli (1588), trans. Martha Teach Gnudi (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), plate 188; 52: The Various and Ingenious Machines of Agostino Ramelli (1588), trans. Martha Teach Gnudi (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), plate 129; 58: Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Musquetten end Speissen, Achtervolgende de Ordre van Syn Excellente Maurits, Prince van Orangie . . . Figuirlyck vutgebeelt door Jacob de Gheyn (Musket drill devised by Maurice of Orange) (The Hague, 1607); facsimile edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971; 60: Hugh B. C. Pollard, Pollard’s History of Firearms, ed. Claude Blair (New York: Macmillan, 1983), 35; 65: Charles John Ffoulkes, The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth Century (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1967), 55. Redrawn by author; 66: Charles John Ffoulkes, The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth Century (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1967), plate V. Redrawn by author; 80: Ken Lamb, P.L.: Inventor of the Robertson Screw (Milton, Ont.: Milton Historical Society, 1998), 152; 90: Christoph Graf zu Waldburg Wolfegg, Venus and Mars: The World of the Medieval Housebook (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1998), 88; 95: A History of Technology: Vol. II, The Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages c. 700 B.C. to c. A.D. 1500, eds. Charles Joseph Singer et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 334; 98: Robert S. Woodbury, Studies in the History of Machine Tools (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972), Fig. 30; 114: T. K. Derry and Trevor I. Williams, A Short History of Technology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), 236; 118: A. G. Drachmann, Ancient Oil Mills and Presses (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1932), 159. Redrawn by author; 130: Derek J. de Solla Price, “Gears from the Greeks: The Antikythera Mechanism—a Calendar Computer from ca. 80 B.C.,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 64, pt. 7 (November 1974): 37; 141: M. H. Morgan, Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1946), 295. Pages 101, 115, 120, 122, 145–151 were drawn by the author.
INDEX
Académie Française, 36
adzes, 19, 21, 26, 41, 46, 51
cooper’s, 147
Agricola, Georgius, 51–53, 54, 69, 125
Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’, 33–35
A-levels, 16–17, 149
American Screw Company, 78, 84
Ancient Carpenters’ Tools (Mercer), 37, 41
Andreas, 121
Antikythera Mechanism, 128–32, 133
Apollonius of Perge, 139
archaeology, 17–18, 38, 127–28
Archimedes, 9, 47–48, 133–43
Archytas of Terentum, 139
armor, 57, 93
chain mail, 62, 64
Dresden, 61–65
golden age of, 61
helms of, 63, 64–66
jousting vs. field, 62, 64
screws used in, 63–64, 66–67, 72
steel plates of, 62, 63, 64, 66–67
weight of, 62
armorer’s pincers, 67, 111
arquebus, 56–57
arquebusier’s screwdriver, 33, 60–61
arquebusier’s spanner, 60, 61, 67, 111
art de tourner, L’ (Plumier), 96
astrology, 53
astronomy, 14, 97, 98, 129, 133, 135
Athenaeus, 138, 139
augers, 22–23, 24, 46, 54, 122
breast, 22–23, 146
long-handled, 51
spiral, 143, 147
awls, 36–37
ax-adzes, 21
axes, 51
double-headed, 21
Babbage, Charles, 107
backsaws, 18, 151
Bataille, E. M., 110
Bearing the Cross (Franke), 22
bellows, 51, 53, 70, 124–25
bench vises, 80
Besson, Jacques, 95–96
bevels, 16, 149
blacksmiths, 30, 36, 70–71, 73, 100, 111
bolts, 30, 37, 71, 72, 105
bombards, 55
bookstands, revolving, 49, 50
bow drills, 21–22, 24, 31, 41
braces, 80
cranks in, 24–25, 33
wooden, 23–24
see also carpenter’s braces
Bramah, Joseph, 100–101
British Arts and Crafts movement, 39
Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers, 72
Bronze Age, 19–20
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, 103, 110
Brunel, Marc Isambard, 102–3, 109
bucket conveyor belts, 48, 141
buttons, 45–46, 89
cabinetmaker’s screwdriver, 33–35
cabinet turnscrews, 43
cabinetwork, 15, 18–20, 33–35, 76
Campin, Robert, 23
cannons, 54, 55
steam, 137–38
carpenter’s benches, 26, 27, 89
carpenter’s braces, 22, 23–25, 27, 33, 41, 43, 45, 111, 146, 148
catapults, 48, 137
celestial globes, 132, 133, 135, 137
ceramics, 38–39, 128–29
China, ancient, 45, 129, 142–43
chisels, 19–20, 23, 36–37, 51, 69
Cicero, 132–33, 134, 135
clamps, 48, 121
Claudianus, 133
Clement, Joseph, 107–8, 109–10
clockmaking, 49, 71–72
clocks:
astronomical, 49, 71–72, 131–32
turret, 71
combination case openers, 20, 150
Commander mauls, 20, 40–41
computers, 107
Consumer Reports, 85
Cook, James, 99
corks, 35–36
corkscrews, 36, 80
cotter pins, 62
cranks, 24–25, 73
crowbars, 20, 54
cuirassier helmet, 48
De’Dondi, Giovanni, 71–72, 131
De Re Metallica (Agricola), 51–53
Dictionary of Tools (Salaman), 31–32
Dictionnaire Général de la Langue Française, 36, 44
Diderot, Denis, 33–35, 61
dies, 30, 64, 105
Diodorus Siculus, 134, 140–41
dioptra, 119
Disston, Henry, 19
diverse et artificiose machine, Le (Ramelli), 47, 48–51, 52
dividers, 46, 48
Drachmann, A. G., 123, 138–39
draw rings, 31
drills, 15, 33, 85, 86
bow, 21–22, 24, 31, 41
Dürer, Albrecht, 46–47, 55–56
Egypt, ancient, 45, 140
tools of, 16–18, 21, 41, 88–89
electrician’s screwdriver, 32
electricity, 15
Encyclopaedia Britannica,
27, 31, 32
Encyclopédie (Diderot and d’Alembert), 33–35, 36, 43, 54, 61, 73, 74, 93
engines, 48
difference, 107
jet, 55
steam, 24, 76, 103, 104, 107–9, 110
Euclid, 133
Eustathius, 139
eyeglasses, 13–14, 16
Ffoulkes, Charles, 65–67
files, 36–37
Fisher Body Company, 82
Ford, Henry, 82–83
foundries, 55–56
Franke, Meister, 22
Franklin, Benjamin, 14
Frick Collection, 53–54, 90, 92
Gallus, 132–33, 135
Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 39
Gardner Museum, 39
gearwheels, 129–32
General Motors, 84
generators, 15
gent’s fancy screwdriver, 145
Gent’s Fancy Turnscrew, 43
gimlets, 31
girders, 73, 75, 88
Goodman, William Louis, 26–27, 37
Great Western, 103
Greeks, ancient, 31, 45, 118–19, 121–22, 123–24, 127–40, 142–43
Greenwich Armory, 63
gunmaker’s screwdriver, 32
guns, 55–61
antitank, 56
barrels of, 55, 56, 59
loading and firing of, 56–57, 60
ray, 137
screws in, 59–61, 71, 72
Gutenberg, Johannes, 113
hacksaws, 18, 71, 73
hammers, 14, 23, 24, 31, 46, 51, 67
adze-eye, 21
claw, 21, 47
combination, 20, 150
socketed, 111
steam, 107
see also mallets; mauls; sledgehammers
handsaws, 14–19, 45
ancient Egyptian, 17–18
open, 19, 46
origins of, 17–19
skew-back, 19, 151
see also backsaws; hacksaws; saws
hand tools, 15–27
artistic depictions and illustrations of, 22, 23–24, 33, 34, 35, 41–42, 46–47, 51, 53, 54, 59, 67, 115, 145–51
carpenter’s, 15–27
combination, 20–21, 80, 111, 150
cutting and shaping, 16, 17–20
drilling, 16, 21–25, 86
as extension of body, 16
four categories of, 16
hammering, 16, 20–21
measurement, 16–17
origins and histories of, 16–25, 26–27, 29–37
power, 15–16, 86
helixes, 112, 119–21, 124, 125, 143
Hero of Alexandria, 116–19, 121–22, 123, 127, 136
Hieron, King of Syracuse, 135, 138, 140
hinges, 74–75, 76, 78, 124
Historia Naturalis (Pliny the Elder), 116–17
History of Woodworking Tools (Goodman), 26–27, 37
hodometers, 119
houses, building of, 14–17, 20, 39
instruments:
mathematical, 30, 97, 134
medical, 121, 125
navigational, 31, 97, 99
surveying, 17, 119, 125
iron, 47, 60, 62, 129
screws, 35, 51–53, 75
smelting of, 51
jacks, 48
Japanese, 18n, 45
Jefferson, Thomas, 71
jeweler’s screwdrivers, 32
Joseph, Saint, 23–24, 46
Josephus, 123
jousting, 62–63, 64
Kern, Ken, 15
Knights of the Round Table, 61, 62
lathes, 41, 73, 77, 88–101
bench, 98, 111
guilloching, 96
pole, 89–90
precision, 103–6
screw-cutting, 90–106
turning-, 88–97
Leonardo da Vinci, 47, 48, 94, 95, 100, 102, 103, 137–38
levels:
A-, 16–17, 149
spirit, 16, 17, 149
locksmiths, 63, 74
London pattern screwdriver, 43, 145
Louis XVI, King of France, 96
machines, 48–51
calculating, 107
milling, 24, 48–51
mining and smelting, 51, 53
scale-dividing, 97–99
scaling, 48
screw-making, 75–78, 87–106
specialized, 102–3, 107
water-driven, 24, 48, 53, 76, 137–38, 139–43
wind-driven, 24, 137, 138–39
wooden, 51
see also engines
mallets, 20, 51
manacles, 54, 55, 91
Marcellus, 134–35
matchlocks, 57–61, 70, 124
mathematics, 133–35
Maudslay, Henry, 99–107, 108–9, 136
mauls, 20, 40–41, 150
Mechanical Exercises (Nicholson), 29, 31
Mechanick Exercises (Moxon), 30, 41, 64
Medieval Housebook, 53–54, 60, 67, 90–93, 103, 112
Melancolia I (Dürer), 46–47
mensor aedificorum, 16, 17
Mercer, Henry Chapman, 37–41
Mercer Museum, 40–41
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 23, 57–66, 67
micrometers, 109
microscopes, 14, 99
Middle Ages, 14, 37, 89
tools of, 17, 21, 22–23, 24–25, 27, 46–67, 112
mills, 48–51
flour, 52
hand-cranked, 24, 48–51
portable, 52
millstones, 47, 49
mining, 51, 87
Minoans, 21
mirrors, 137
miter boxes, 18
Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, 38–39
Morris, William, 38, 39
mousetraps, 23, 80
Moxon, Joseph, 29–30, 36, 37, 41, 64, 74
multum in parvo tools, 67
nail gun, 16
nails, 23, 51, 74
arming, 66
fabrication of, 70–71
iron, 21, 47, 51, 69–71
pulling of, 20, 21, 70
screws vs., 69–70, 71, 73, 125
Nasmyth, James, 107–9
New England Screw Company, 77
New York Times, 13, 44
Nicholson, Peter, 29, 31
nuts, 30, 63, 105, 117, 122, 124
wing, 64, 65, 71
wooden, 121
On Sphere-Making (Archimedes), 133
optics, 14
Ovid, 133
Owner-Built Home, The (Kern), 15
Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 29, 31, 112
Pappus of Alexandria, 123–24
pegs, 21, 49, 121, 122
petronels, 58–59
Phillips, Henry F., 83–86
physics, 15, 134
pincers, 23, 47
armorer’s, 67, 111
pipes, wooden, 51
pivot hooks, 62
planes, 19, 27, 31, 41, 89, 112, 150
Plato, 139
Pliny the Elder, 116–17
plumb bobs, 16, 17
Plumier, Charles, 96, 103
Plutarch, 133, 134–35, 136, 138
poitrinal, 58
Pollard’s History of Firearms, 59–60, 67
portcullis twisters, 48, 54
presses, 113–18
beam, 116–17, 121–22
linen, 113–14, 116
olive and fruit, 113, 115, 117, 125
paper, 113, 115
printing, 113, 114
screw, 115–18, 122
Price, Derek J. de Solla, 127, 131–32
production lines, 102
pulleys:
compound, 136–37
ships’, 102, 138–39
pumps, 24, 48, 51
pyrites, iron, 60
radar, 55
Ramelli, Agostino, 47–51, 52, 53, 54, 74, 95, 137
Ramsden, Jesse, 97–99, 103
regula, 17
Renaissance, 27, 55
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br /> rennhut, 63
renntartsche, 63, 64–66
rivets, 62, 66, 80
Roberts, Kenneth, 43
Roberts, Richard, 107–8
Robertson, Peter L., 80–83, 84, 85, 86
Rogers, Charles D., 78
rollers, 49
Roman Empire, 37, 45, 113, 115, 127, 134–35, 136, 140–41
tools of, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 27, 71, 89, 111, 122, 123, 124–25, 143
Roubo, A. J., 32–33
rules, 47
folding, 17
Sakas, Ioannis, 137–38
Salaman, Raphael A., 31–32
sanders, 15
saws, 17–19, 23, 24
circular, 15
frame, 18, 19, 111, 151
origins of, 17–19
power, 15
revolving, 75
Roman frame, 111
see also handsaws
scharfrennen, 62–63
Scotch pattern screwdriver, 43, 145
screw bolts, 37
screwdrivers, 26–27, 40, 47, 69
as adaptations, 37, 111
auger-handled, 37
automated, 85–86
blades of, 33, 43, 67, 78, 81
definition of, 29
handles of, 27, 31, 35, 37, 43
magnetic, 79
origins and history of, 27, 29–37, 41–44, 67
Phillips, 83, 85
Robertson, 81, 85–86
specialized, 31–32, 43
spring-loaded, 81
see also specific screwdrivers
screw-pins, 30
screw-plates, 30, 64
screws:
accuracy of, 97–98, 101–2, 103–6, 110
cam-out and slippage of, 78–79, 83, 86
cost of, 70, 72, 76, 110
countersunk, 78
cruciform vs. square socket, 83, 85
endless, 118–19, 138–39, 143
fabrication of, 63–64, 71, 73, 75–86, 87–106, 112
gimlet-pointed, 76, 77
handmade, 73, 77
iron, 35, 51–53, 75
mechanical bonding of, 70
metal-joining, 54–55
modern, 76–86
origins and history of, 32, 49–55, 63–64, 66–67, 69–86, 109–43
ornamental, 96
Phillips, 83–86
regulating, 97–99, 101–2, 103–4, 109–10
removal of, 70, 86
Robertson, 80–83
slotted-head, 35, 49, 53, 54–55, 59, 71, 72, 75, 78–79, 81, 83
socket-head, 80–86
steel, 35, 73
tapered, threaded bodies of, 53, 59, 70, 73, 76–77, 111–12
uniformity in, 105
water, 139–43
wooden, 112–13, 116–17, 123, 140–41
screw taps, 122, 123–24
sewing machine turnscrew, 43
sextants, 31, 97, 99
shipbuilding, 22, 76, 81–82, 84, 103
Shipley, David, 13–14, 19, 25
sledgehammers, 20
slide rests, 100–101, 103
Sloan, Thomas J., 78, 84
spanners, 60, 61, 67
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw Page 10