Robertson screw, was Panel hauler , now "Star drive"

[gordon stelter]

As much as I love the Robertson screw, it is now
eclipsed by the "Star Drive" ( torx-tip" being sold at
Lowe's, for rigid, positive, "slip-proof" drive.
     Thump

--- Jim <jim at pianoguy.com> wrote:

> Peter Lymburner Robertson (1879-1951) is a Canadian
> inventor of the 
> square-drive screw, first produced in his Milton,
> Ontario factory in 1908. 
> The Robertson factory is still operating today.
> Robertson had licensed the screw in England but the
> party with which he was 
> dealing intentionally put the company under and
> purchased the rights from 
> the trustee thus circumventing Robertson. He spent a
> small fortune buying 
> back the rights. After that he refused to ever allow
> anyone to make the 
> screws under license. When Henry Ford tried out the
> Robertson screws he 
> found they saved considerable time in the production
> of cars but when 
> Robertson refused to license the screws to Ford, he
> realized that the use 
> of the screws would not be guaranteed and stopped
> using them. This largely 
> explains why they never became established in the
> United States.
> 
> Today Robertson screws are almost unknown in the
> United Kingdom, scarce in 
> the United States, where they are used mainly in
> theatrical set 
> construction and account for 10% of screws sold,
> while being very common in 
> Canada where 85% of the screws sold use the
> Robertson head.
> 
> P. L. Robertson From Wikipedia, 
> 



 
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