The earliest rivets were small pegs made of wood or bone.

Jan 23,2025

The earliest rivets were small wooden or bone pegs, and the earliest metallic deformations may be the ancestors of the rivets we know today. Undoubtedly, they are the oldest known method of metal connection used by humans, dating back to the initial use of malleable metals. For example, during the Bronze Age, the Egyptians used rivets to fasten six wooden fan-shaped bodies to the outer rim of a slotted wheel, and the Greeks successfully cast large statues in bronze, then used rivets to join the various parts together.
In 1916, when H.V. White of the British Aircraft Manufacturing Company first obtained a patent for a blind rivet that could be riveted from one side, few people anticipated that this type of rivet would be applied so widely. From aerospace to office machines, electronic products, and sports equipment, it can be said that this blind rivet has now become an effective and solid method of mechanical connection. The exact time when hollow rivets were invented is not very clear, but harnesses were invented between the 9th and 10th centuries AD. Riveted harnesses, like horseshoes with nails, liberated slaves from heavy labor, and rivets also led to many important inventions, such as iron pliers used by copper and iron workers and sheep shears.