From Archimedean spirals to screw mechanisms – a short historical overview

Abstract

Mathematics forms the common roof for Archimedean spirals on the one side and screw mechanisms on the other side. Moreover, Archimedes was a genius of mechanics and mechanisms and was famous for solving mathematical and mechanical problems. There is also a historical justification for the title of the present paper, because the technical notion “Archimedean water-screw” is well-known to those mechanical engineers who are fond of looking back to the ideas and inventions of some famous protagonists and forerunners in the past and still today want to learn from their successes and failures.