Most buyers only look at the spec sheet — diameter, grade, coating. But the screw in your hand is the product of 2,000 years of engineering. As a fastener factory, we think every European buyer should know where it came from.
The screw principle was first described by the Greek mathematician Archytas. By the 1st century AD, the Mediterranean world already used wooden screws in presses to extract olive oil and wine. But for over a millennium, metal screws were rare as fasteners in Europe — builders relied on dowels, pins, wedges, rivets and even leather lashings. Shipbuilders used cotter pins and rivets well into the 19th century.
Mass production arrived in the 1760s–70s. England's Wyatt brothers patented a screw-cutting machine in 1760 and opened the first wood-screw factory in 1776 — by the 1780s it made 16,000 screws a day with just 30 workers. Around the same time, Jesse Ramsden built the first proper screw-cutting lathe (1777), and Henry Maudslay standardized the process with lead screws, sliding carriages and change gears (1797–1800), unifying wood and machine-screw production. (Fun correction: it was Maudslay who popularized the sliding carriage — not James Nasmyth, as is sometimes claimed.)
For most of the 20th century, China's fastener output was small and domestic. After reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, coastal clusters in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Hebei turned China into the world's largest fastener producer and exporter by the 2000s — adopting GB, DIN and ISO standards and serving global automotive, construction and machinery markets.
Our own story starts in Nanjing, Jiangsu — a city with deep manufacturing roots. Founded in 2000, Nanjing Tianyu grew from Nanjing fastener workshop into a factory supplying European distributors and OEMs with wooden screws、self drilling screws and custom fasteners. Today we run cold forging, heat treatment and plating in-house, issue an MTC on every batch, and accept custom orders from drawing or sample. The screw's history is 2,000 years old — ours is just beginning.
Standardization is why a bolt from our line fits your European assembly. We're a screw factory that accepts custom orders and ships with full documentation. Send us your spec, drawing or sample and we'll match it, prototype, and quote.
Contact us now for samples: support1@tianyufasteners.com. Explore our offerings at www.tianyufasteners.com.
Q: Do your screws follow the GB/DIN standards discussed in this history? A: Yes. The standardization Maudslay pioneered is exactly why we can supply consistent GB and DIN fasteners today — tight tolerances, with an MTC on every batch.
Q: Can you supply both standard and fully custom screw types? A: Yes. From hex bolts and self-tappers to bespoke geometries, we accept orders from drawing or sample and inspect to your requirement.
Q: How has Chinese fastener quality evolved, and what's your setup? A: China's industry scaled into a global precision supplier over the last 40 years. We run in-house cold forging, heat treatment and plating, with dimensional and salt-spray reports available on request.
Q: What documents support a European shipment? A: Every batch ships with a Material Test Certificate, plus dimensional inspection and salt-spray reports on request for your compliance file.
