To My American Friends

[Blue Stocking]

[QUOTE=GordMay;2126335]And Hatteras ➥ Hatteras Bits 1, 2 & 3 (Square)[/

Thanks Gord, forgot about them . Good quality, reusable from new damaged hulls.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Stumble

The continued use of slotted drive screws is proof that the devil exists. The continued use use of Phillips heads proves God hates me.

I use Roberts where I can and hex for everything else.

I've often said, "There's a special place in Hell reserved for the @-hole who used a slotted screw/bolt here!" Usually it's when I'm contorted and feeling my way onto the bolt head of some hard-to-reach spot ... which is basically everywhere on my boat

Robertson, absolutely! But heck, I'd even take a Phillips. Anything but the evil slotted.

[Lodesman]

To add to the problem, bleedin' Phillips might not even be bleedin' Phillips (from Wikipedia):

Frearson[edit]






The Frearson screw drive, also known as the Reed and Prince screw drive, is similar to a Phillips but the Frearson has a sharp tip and larger angle in the V shape.[16] One advantage over the Phillips drive is that one driver or bit fits all screw sizes. It is often found in marine hardware and requires a Frearson screwdriver or bit to work properly. The tool recess is a perfect, sharp cross, allowing for higher applied torque, unlike the rounded, tapered Phillips head, which can cam out at high torque. It was developed by an English inventor named Frearson in the 19th century and produced from the late 1930s to the mid-1970s. The Reed & Prince Mfg. Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, was put into bankruptcy in 1987 and liquidated in 1990. Another entity called Reed & Prince Manufacturing Corporation, now of Leominster, Massachusetts, purchased some of the assets including the name at the liquidation sale.[17]
French recess[edit]


French recess driver bit


This section requires expansion. (June 2010)
Also called BNAE NFL22-070 after its Bureau de normalisation de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (French) standard number.

JIS B 1012[edit]


The JIS B 1012 is commonly found in Japanese equipment. It looks like a Phillips screw, but is designed not to cam out and will therefore be damaged by a Phillips screwdriver if it is too tight. Heads are usually identifiable by a single dot or an "X" to one side of the cross slot.[18]
Specific "JIS" standardized cruciform-blade screwdrivers are available for this type of screw.

[Jason Flare]

Originally Posted by bytownboy

We have happily shared many of our greatest inventions with you.

In return, I on behalf of my fellow countrymen have one request. Please, please adopt the Robertson Screw.

It seems the die was cast early:

When Henry Ford tried out the Robertson screws, he found that they saved considerable time in Model T production, but when Robertson refused to license the screw design, Ford realized that the supply of screws would not be guaranteed and chose to limit their use in production to Ford's Canadian division.[32][33][34]

[SouthernPride]

The worst invention ever is the wonder bra.

[boeing1]

does anyone remember triwing

[Scaramanga F25]

When "Robertson" in 3 sizes Patent expired, Americans invented the square drive. LOL

[Rough Magic]

The square drive is not technically a Robertson, has something to do with the angle and fit of the side walls. I use them almost exclusively here in Southern California. Frearson screws are still used in silicone bronze screws for wooden boats, pricey.

[Tellie]

the telephone, the light bulb, the zipper and poutine being just a few.

I guess I'll have to buy the most recent revised history book so I can keep current on past events. But Poutine? Definitely Canadian. But if we have to, us Americans will improve on that too.

[barnakiel]

I wish Robertson's parents had known of another great Western invention: inexpensive and simple contraception methods.

b.

[MartinF]

I lived in Europe for 60 years and i had never seen a square-socket screw before I came to Canada. The first time I came across a robertson screwdriver I threw it away, thinking it was some archaic device I would never use!

[Lake-Effect]

I'm certain the slotted screw was invented by the trades to be sold mainly into the consumer markets, so that after the average homeowner stripped several and speared themselves or the work a few times when the driver inevitably slips out... they'd decide to hire a pro.

Also... straight-blade screwdrivers are so versatile around the home - opening paint cans, crude chisels, wedges, prybars, involuntary electrical outlet testers - all of which make them less dependable as screwdrivers. .

[waterman46]

I don't know why but I have a strange fascination with this subject. I found the following comment on on a construction website. Since these guys have way more experience with this subject than I do, I thought it might be valuable here:

"Call me "Mr. High Torque Screw Guy" being a deck guy.

"I use T20 screws from 1/2" to 3" daily (probably a couple thousand this summer alone) and have not had one strip or break.

"We run gazillions of #1 square drive screws in our HFS and they are much more prone to stripping under the same conditions.

"So...my vote is that square drives be outlawed altogether."

End of quote.

It seems the star drive (Torx) is also much more dressy looking than the crude looking square drive. OH, sorry but I was taught that the telephone and light bulb were invented in the USA. Just US propaganda I guess. I do really love the folks up in the land of "Americas Hat".

[redhead]

Okay - I'm from the US East Coast, magically transported to the Pacific Northwest to refit a poor neglected 35 year old boat built by a bunch of (drunk) Canadians after their first (or second) sixpack of the day. I'm not making this stuff up, I have pictures of the build, hundreds of them, and in every single one there is a bunch of huge grinning Canadians standing in front of the hull, drinking beer.

Now, on to this square drive/Robertson business. I admit, before now I wasn't conversant with every type of screw known to man. When we refit any boat I am the "de" construction part of the operation. And I do it well. And carefully. So here I am in a new country the PNW (might as well be, it ain't New Yawk) trying mightily to assimilate and I'm confronted with these new screws. Thousands and thousands of them. And all the squares are DIFFERENT SIZES!!!???

After the last refit, when I removed thousands of screws by hand, my husband bought me my own special battery powered Bosch screw remover (see? I need the tool Google translator). Now I need to find new square head (ahem, Robertson) drives. Not one or two sizes, but umpteen sizes. Some of them are tiny and in brass and the heads twist off if I put too much torque on it. I started keeping them all separate containers for about a week, now they all get tossed in a gallon container and I'm on my second.

Okay I'm getting out of hand here. But at last I can talk to some people that actually know what I'm talking about. When I try to tell my friends back East or down in the Keys there's a lot of silence and I think they send emails to each other and there's an intervention in my future.

So thank you for giving the actual real name of the screw that I curse every single day of my life.

(PS They do work really well)

[Bulawayo]

I always though Humphrey Davy was English.......and so did he (the light bulb), Nicolae Paulescu has always been considered Romanian (insulin) - I think you mean medicinal insulin (Fred Banting et al) whilst Alexander Graham Bell was Scottish (telephone). Whitcom Judson (the zip) hailed from the USA. Poutine was actually invented in Rotterdam before becoming associated with Quebec.
However, there are a heap of very worthwhile Canadian inventions that are too numerous to mention from walkie talkies, through to many useful everyday articles.
Sorry....& Im not even an American.

Originally Posted by bytownboy

I along with the vast majority of Canadians feel privileged to share the many years of harmony that has been the hallmark of US/Canada relations for around two hundred years.

We have happily shared many of our greatest inventions with you. Insulin, the telephone, the light bulb, the zipper and poutine being just a few.

In return, I on behalf of my fellow countrymen have one request. Please, please adopt the Robertson Screw!!

I understand that you haven't got in line with the rest of the world and adopted the metric system. I still don't know my height or weight in metric, and my boat is 41 foot long, could care less what that is in metric. But dealing with phillips and slotted screws drives me bonkers!

Before I go, just a reminder - we also invented Basketball (go Raptors) and the Wonderbra!

Here's something the Republicans and Democrats can agree on - whoops sorry now I'm getting ridiculous. Too much Molsons Canadian with dinner again.

Doug