The Screw

Man's Way of Helping Himself:
Another valuable and indispensable form of the inclined plane is the screw. This consists of a metal rod around which passes a ridge, and Figure 108 shows clearly that a screw is simply a rod around which (in effect) an inclined plane has been wrapped.

The ridge encircling the screw is called the thread, and the distance between two successive threads is called the pitch. It is easy to see that the closer the threads and the smaller the pitch, the greater the advantage of the screw, and hence the less force needed in overcoming resistance. A corkscrew is a familiar illustration of the screw.

FIG. - A screw as a simple machine.