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--></style><title>Re: [Alberg30] Re: [Alberg30]Robertson
screws</title></head><body>
<div>...and there you have it! Thanks Marianne, I always wondered
about this story but never took the time to look it up.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Wally</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>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.<br>
If your screwdriver doesn't work this way, you need a different size
bit. They come in several numbered and colour-coded sizes.<br>
Ford used the Robertson Screw for many years.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>From canadianhomeworkshop.com:<br>
<blockquote><i>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.</i><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><i>And not long after, the Fisher Body Company (famous for
constructing the Ford Model T) decided to use his invention in
its production line.</i><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><i>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.</i><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><i>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.</i><br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Marianne King-Wilson<br>
</blockquote>
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<div><br></div>
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<div>The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent
in sailing. Anon<br>
www.georgianbaysailing.ca for interesting reading for sailors</div>
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