One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw (15 page)

Maul

Combination case opener

Plane

Backsaw

Skew-back handsaw

Frame saw

Thanks, first, to David Shipley for asking the question. For help with the Greek quote, my appreciation to Prof. Ralph Rosen, chair of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Robert A. Ruhloff was kind enough to send me information on wrought-iron spikes, including several interesting samples. Jamie Kendrick, Adam Barzilay, Maria Gonzalez, and Yi-Ting Liu provided capable research assistance. The Milton Historical Society supplied information on the redoubtable P. L. Robertson. The staff of the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania were helpful, as always. I doubt that this small book would have seen the light of day without the encouragement of my editor, Nan Graham, and my agent, Carl Brandt, who both share my interest in tools and handy-work. Shirley Hallam, my wife, pointed me in the right direction, at the right time—as usual.

The Icehouse, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania

October
1999

WITOLD RYBCZYNSKI
is the author of nine books, including
Home, City Life,
and the national bestseller
A Clearing in the Distance,
for which he won a Christopher Award and the J. Anthony Lukas Prize. He is a regular contributor to
The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine,
and
The New York Review of Books.
He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

A
LSO BY
W
ITOLD
R
YBCZYNSKI

Paper Heroes

Taming the Tiger

Home

The Most Beautiful House in the World

Waiting for the Weekend

Looking Around

A Place for Art

City Life

A Clearing in the Distance

1
.
Edward Rosen, “The Invention of Eyeglasses: Part I,”
Journal of the History of Medicine
(January
1956
):
34
–
35
.

2
.
Ken Kern,
The Owner-Built Home
(Oakhurst, Calif.: Owner-Builder Publications,
1972
),
78
.

3
.
W. L. Goodman,
The History of Woodworking Tools
(London: G. Bell & Sons,
1964
),
199
–
201
.

4
.
R. A. Salaman,
Dictionary of Tools: used in the woodworking and allied trades, c.
1700
–
1970
(London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.,
1975
),
299
.

5
.
Lynn White Jr., “Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages,”
Speculum
15
(April
1940
):
153
.

6
.
For a dissenting view, see A. G. Drachmann, “The Crank in Graeco-Roman Antiquity,”
Changing Perspectives in the History of Science: Essays in Honour of Joseph Needham
(London: Heinemann,
1973
),
33
–
51
.

7
.
Bertrand Gille, “Machines,” in Charles Joseph Singer et al., eds.,
A History of Technology: Vol. II, The Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages c.
700
B.C.
to c.
A.D.
1500
(New York: Oxford University Press,
1957
),
651
.

8
.
Bertrand Gille, “The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries in the Western World,” in Maurice Dumas, ed.,
A History of Technology & Invention: Vol. II, The First Stages of Mechanization,
trans. Eileen B. Hennessy (New York: Crown Publishers,
1969
),
23
.

9
.
Graham Hollister-Short, “Cranks and Scholars,”
History of Technology
17
(
1995
):
223
–
24
.

10
.
Goodman,
History of Woodworking Tools,
178
.

11
.
Ibid.,
9
.

12
.
“Tools: Later development of hand tools: SCREW-BASED TOOLS: Screwdrivers and wrenches,”
Britannica Online,
December
1998
.

1
.
Peter Nicholson,
Mechanical Exercises: or, the elements and practice of Carpentry, Joinery, Bricklaying, Masonry, Slating, Plastering, Painting, Smithing, and Turning
(London: J. Taylor,
1812
),
353
.

2
.
Joseph Moxon,
Mechanick Exercises: or, the Doctrine of Handy-Works
(London: J. Moxon,
1693
), A
5
–
6
.

3
.
The Greek Anthology,
trans. W. R. Patton (London: William Heinemann,
1916
),
405
.

4
.
“Navigation,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica,
vol.
12
(Edinburgh: A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar,
1797
), plate
343
. The reference is pointed out by Joseph E. Sandford, “Carpenters’ Tool Notes,” in Henry C. Mercer,
Ancient Carpenters’ Tools: Together with Lumbermen’s, Joiners’ and Cabinet Makers’ Tools in Use in the Eighteenth Century
(Doylestown, Pa.: Bucks County Historical Society,
1975
),
311
.

5
.
A Dictionary of American English: on historical principles,
vol.
4
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1944
),
2045
.

6
.
R. A. Salaman,
Dictionary of Tools: used in the woodworking and allied trades, c.
1700
–
1970
(London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.,
1975
),
450
.

7
.
Ibid.,
449
.

8
.
A. J. Roubo, “L’Art du Menuisier en Meubles,”
Description des
Arts et Métiers,
vol.
19
(Paris: Académie des Sciences,
1772
),
944
(author’s translation).

9
.
Encyclopédie: ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers,
vol.
17
(Neuchastel: Samuel Faulche & Co.,
1765
),
484
(author’s translation).

10
.
Adolphe Hatzfeld and Arsène Darmesteter,
Dictionnaire Général de la Langue Française: du commencement du XVII
^e
siècle jusqu’à nos jours,
vol.
2
(Paris: Librairie Delagrave,
1932
),
2171
.

11
.
James M. Gaynor and Nancy L. Hagedorn,
Tools: Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America
(Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation),
11
.