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<H1 class=firstHeading><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>Peter Lymburner
Robertson (</FONT><A title=1879 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1879"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>1879</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif"
size=3>-</FONT><A title=1951 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>1951</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>)
is a </FONT><A title=Canadian href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>Canadian</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif"
size=3> </FONT><A title=Inventor
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventor"><FONT face="MS Sans Serif"
size=3>inventor</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3> of the </FONT><A
title="Robertson screwdriver"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_screwdriver"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>square-drive screw</FONT></A><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>, first produced in his </FONT><A
title="Milton, Ontario"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton,_Ontario"><FONT face="MS Sans Serif"
size=3>Milton</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>, </FONT><A
title=Ontario href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>Ontario</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>
factory in </FONT><A title=1908 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908"><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>1908</FONT></A><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>.
The </FONT><A class="external text"
title=http://www.robertsonscrew.com/index.html
href="http://www.robertsonscrew.com/index.html" rel=nofollow><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>Robertson factory</FONT></A><FONT
face="MS Sans Serif" size=3> is still operating today.</FONT></H1>
<P><FONT size=3>Robertson had licensed the screw in </FONT><A title=England
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England"><FONT size=3>England</FONT></A><FONT
size=3> but the party with which he was dealing intentionally put the </FONT><A
title="Company (law)"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_%28law%29"><FONT
size=3>company</FONT></A><FONT size=3> under and purchased the rights from the
trustee thus circumventing Robertson<SUP>. </SUP>He spent a small fortune buying
back the rights. After that he refused to ever allow anyone to make the screws
under license. When </FONT><A title="Henry Ford"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford"><FONT size=3>Henry
Ford</FONT></A><FONT size=3> tried out the Robertson screws he found they saved
considerable time in the production of </FONT><A title=Car
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car"><FONT size=3>cars</FONT></A><FONT
size=3> 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 </FONT><A
title="United States" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States"><FONT
size=3>United States</FONT></A><FONT size=3>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3>Today Robertson screws are almost unknown in the </FONT><A
title="United Kingdom" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom"><FONT
size=3>United Kingdom</FONT></A><FONT size=3>, 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 </FONT><A title=Canada
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada"><FONT size=3>Canada</FONT></A><FONT
size=3> where 85% of the screws sold use the Robertson
head.</FONT></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<H1 class=firstHeading><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=3>P. L. Robertson From
Wikipedia, </FONT></H1></DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif"
size=2></FONT></BODY></HTML>