[Alberg30] Re: [Alberg30]Robertson screws

[Wally Moran]

...and there you have it! Thanks Marianne, I always wondered about 
this story but never took the time to look it up.

Wally

>Robertson was a Canadian.  His 1908 invention was immediately a 
>favourite of carpenters, boatbuilders and automobile manufacturers. 
>The main reason was that, particularly in close quarters and awkward 
>spaces, the screw could be placed on the screwdriver and carried 
>safely to its destination without falling off.
>If your screwdriver doesn't work this way, you need a different size 
>bit. They come in several numbered and colour-coded sizes.
>Ford used the Robertson Screw for many years.
>
>From canadianhomeworkshop.com:
>
>The legend goes like this: Sometime around  the turn of the century, 
>Peter Lymburner Robertson was setting up a street booth from which 
>he planned to sell tools, when the  slot-headed screwdriver he was 
>using slipped out of the screw head and slashed open his hand. 
>"There must be a better way," he mumbled to himself before vowing 
>then and there, the story goes, to create the ultimate driver. P. L. 
>Robertson did  indeed patent his square-headed driver and screw 
>system in 1908.
>
>And not long after, the Fisher Body Company (famous for constructing 
>the Ford Model T) decided to use his invention in its production 
>line.
>
>Robertson's colour-coded screwdrivers—green, red and black from 
>smallest to largest-and square-headed screws have grown to dominate 
>the Canadian fastening market: Fully 85% of the screws sold in 
>Canada use the Robertson head.
>
>About 10% of the screws sold in the U.S. are Robertson and This Old 
>House and New  Yankee Workshop guru Norm Abram suggests they could 
>dominate  the industry in 15 years.
>
>Marianne King-Wilson
>


-- 
The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in 
sailing. Anon
www.georgianbaysailing.ca for interesting reading for sailors
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