I think the answer would be apt to the above allegation about the Middle Ages. It would perhaps not be the best response to a person making it, due to Matthew 5:22, but it would certainly be oddly fit to the allegation itself. Because the kind of screws that can be loose or tightly pulled were actually invented by the Middle Ages.
"Hey, wait, the screw was known in Antiquity!"
Let's make a distinction, shall we.
There is screw as a specific tool, sometimes pointed, turned into a hole in a thick material, and sometimes flat bolts and attached by a nut on the other side.
There is also screw as "simple machine" - in the sense that mechanics is a science dealing with very few "simple machines" ...
Lever, Wheel and axle, Pulley, Inclined plane, Wedge, Screw
What is a "simple machine" then?
Simple machines can be regarded as the elementary "building blocks" of which all more complicated machines (sometimes called "compound machines"[6][7]) are composed.[2][8] For example, wheels, levers, and pulleys are all used in the mechanism of a bicycle.
So, the screw that can be loose or tight is also a composite of simple machines? Yes:
A screw is a combination of simple machines: it is, in essence, an inclined plane wrapped around a central shaft, but the inclined plane (thread) also comes to a sharp edge around the outside, which acts as a wedge as it pushes into the fastened material, and the shaft and helix also form a wedge at the point. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, called a female thread (internal thread), often in the form of a nut object with an internal thread. Other screw threads are designed to cut a helical groove in a softer material as the screw is inserted. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and to position objects.
Note, screw as simple machine is not even one of them.*
Now, what was known in antiquity? The simple machine "screw." It was used in Archimede's screw and in screw presses for pressing wine and oil. What was not known in antiquity? The screw as fastener. A German wiki pretends that yes, in Late Antiquity, they were also used in fibulas of the very mighty. If this is so, it could be verified by a work from 1995. Here:
Erste Metallschrauben wurden vereinzelt in der römischen Antike angefertigt, wie beispielsweise die Nadelhalter an mehreren Zwiebelknopffibeln aus dem 4. Jahrhundert, die als von den Römischen Kaisern vergebene prunkvolle Rangabzeichen nicht nur aus wertvollen Metallen, sondern auch technisch besonders aufwändig gestaltet waren.
With the reference:
Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Reinhold Würth (Hrsg.):
Die Schraube zwischen Macht und Pracht: das Gewinde in der Antike.
Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-7995-3628-0, S. 88–89 (Ausstellungskatalog).
https://www.amazon.de/Schraube-zwischen-Pracht-Gewinde-Antike/dp/3799536280
So, if at all, then as a very luxurious fashion detail in the time of Constantine and Theodosius ... but the next example:
Ebenso wurden zu Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts Metallschrauben in Europa gefertigt, die sich aber wegen ihres hohen Preises ebenfalls nicht allgemein durchsetzen konnten. Erst die Industrialisierung im 18. Jahrhundert ermöglichte die preiswerte und massenhafte Herstellung und weite Verbreitung von Schrauben.
These early 15th C. (i e Late Medieval) metal screws certainly were what we mean. And no, they were not in common use, among the people, but they were used for instance to fasten the parts of plate armour together. The principle of a fastener shaped as a screw had been definitely made. And its purpose was practical, without it, the plate armour would fall off and not protect one.
A bit later, about 100 years later, you find a related invention, the vice, which is described in the Löffelholz Codex from 1505. An unpleasant application of it is the thumbscrew - starting from Early Modern Times.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Chad of Lichfield
2.III.2023
* It's possible that the line is somewhat moot. It's not based on my expertise in mechanics, just on the wording of the wiki.
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