Aerial Screw

Hello there. You’ve probably seen me around, but we may not have been properly introduced. My name is Screw, and I’m one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet. I have a round head with a special pattern—sometimes a single slot, sometimes a cross, and sometimes a star—and a long, slender body. But my most important feature is the swirly, spiral path that winds all the way down my body. This is called my thread, and it’s my superpower. My main job is to hold things together, from the tiny parts inside your video game controller to the giant beams that frame your house. You might think I’m just a fancier version of my cousin, the Nail. A nail gets hammered in and does a good job, but if you need to take something apart, pulling a nail out can be a real mess. I’m different. With a simple twist, I can be removed just as easily as I was put in, leaving everything neat and tidy. This makes me perfect for things that might need to be repaired or adjusted later on. I’m a connector you can count on.

My story didn’t begin in a modern factory or a hardware store. To find my oldest relatives, you have to travel way back in time to ancient Greece, more than two thousand years ago. My great-great-grandfather was a true giant, and he was famous. His name was the Archimedes Screw, named after the brilliant thinker who invented him around the 3rd century B.C. Imagine a massive, hollow tube with a huge spiral turning inside it. One end would be placed in a river, and as people turned a handle at the top, the giant spiral would scoop up water and lift it, step by step, all the way up a hill to the farmers' fields. He was like a water elevator, a hero who kept the crops from getting thirsty. It was an amazing invention, and it showed the world the power of my spiral shape. That clever twisting idea was so useful that people found other jobs for my family. Other ancient ancestors of mine were used in large presses. They would turn and apply immense pressure, squeezing every last drop of juice from grapes to make wine and from olives to make precious oil. From the very beginning, my family knew how to use our unique spiral shape to do important work that no one else could do.

For centuries, my family was known for lifting and pressing. But then, creative people began to see my potential in a completely new way. They realized that my spiraling threads could grip materials like wood and metal with incredible strength. This was the beginning of my life as a fastener, the job I am most famous for today. At first, this new career was very slow going. Every single one of me had to be made by hand. A skilled craftsman would spend hours with a sharp file, painstakingly cutting each groove of my thread into a metal rod. It was such difficult work that I was extremely rare and very expensive. You would only find me being used in the most special and precise objects of the time, like intricate clocks made for royalty or delicate scientific instruments used by famous astronomers. I was a luxury, not something for everyday use. Then, a time of amazing change called the Industrial Revolution began. Factories sprang up, building powerful steam engines and complicated machines that were changing the world. These new inventions needed parts that could be held together with something much stronger and more reliable than a simple nail. They needed me. But there was a big problem—there weren't nearly enough of me to go around. That’s when my hero appeared. His name was Henry Maudslay, and he was a brilliant English inventor. Around the year 1800, he created a magnificent machine called a screw-cutting lathe. This machine was a true game-changer. It could cut my threads perfectly and quickly, making thousands of identical screws in the time it used to take a craftsman to make just one. Thanks to Henry Maudslay, I went from being a rare treasure to an everyday essential, ready to help build the modern world.

Today, I am everywhere, holding our world together, often without you even noticing. If you could look inside your smartphone or your family’s car, you would find me and dozens of my relatives, quietly doing our jobs. I’m holding together the wings of the airplanes that soar high in the sky and the desks and chairs in your classroom. My strongest, most advanced family members are even working in outer space, holding together the International Space Station as it orbits our planet. It’s amazing to think that my story began with a giant spiral lifting water for ancient farmers. Now, I am a tiny but mighty connector, a vital part of nearly everything we build and use. My journey proves that even the smallest and simplest ideas can grow to have a huge impact. So the next time you use a screwdriver, remember my long history. You’re using a piece of history that is still, one twist at a time, connecting us all.