egun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in
separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History.
These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date
of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.

In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear
longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in
several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related
subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on
the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the
botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been
published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from
the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_
titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have
been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of
that Museum.

The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises
Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in
separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each
paper.

FRANK A. TAYLOR
_Director, United States National Museum_

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:
PAPER 37

SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE
MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480

_Edwin A. Battison_

_Edwin A. Battison_

SCREW-THREAD CUTTING BY THE MASTER-SCREW METHOD SINCE 1480

_Among the earliest known examples of screw-thread cutting machines
are the screw-cutting lathe of 1483, known only in pictures and
drawings, and an instrument of the traverse-spindle variety for
threading metal, now in the Smithsonian Institution, dating from the
late 17th or early 18th century. The author shows clearly their
evolution from something quite specialized to the present-day tool.
He has traced the patents for these instruments through the early
1930's and from this research we see the part played by such devices
in the development of the machine-tool industry._

THE AUTHOR: _Edwin A. Battison is associate curator of mechanical
and civil engineering in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of
History and Technology._

Directness and simplicity characterize pioneer machine tools because
they were intended to accomplish some quite specialized task and the
need for versatility was not