November 18, 2022 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the differing fates of the Robertson and the Phillips head screwdrivers demonstrates that innovation is intimately tied to historical events. Here’s The History Guy with the story of the screwdriver wars.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
This is our American Stories, and our next story comes
from a man who's simply known as the History Guy.
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guys also heard
right here on our American Stories. Here's the History Guy
with the story of the screwdriver. Wars. Screws as fasters
(00:37):
were not apparently produced until around the fifteenth century, at
least no mention as an e late fifteenth century manuscript.
Their initial use was as a fastener for parts of
medieval jousting armor, and in nearly the same period for
early firearms. The earliest screwdrivers were built to service these weapons,
and they were called either a screw tartar or a turnscrew,
(00:58):
and they had a pear shape wooden handle another looked
at like a modern flatheaded screwdriver. But these screws and
screwdrivers would have been custom made and used on very
expensive devices like wheel locks and jousting armor, and so
screws were not for the common folk. In seventeen sixty,
brothers Job and William Wyatt of Staffordshire patented a screwmaking
(01:20):
machine that used a file to cut into threads. Following
the pitch of a lead screw. This allowed mass production
of screws and was a precursor to industrial mass production machines.
The idea of using a lathe of some sort of
cut threads was variously improved upon until the process for
cold rolling threads was perfected in the eighteen eighties. But
virtually all of these screws used just a few turning methods,
(01:42):
either a hexagon or square that was turned externally or
a flat slot cut to turn internally, and as anyone
who has ever used one nose, flatheaded screws and screwdrivers
have their problems, but solutions were on the horizon. Peter L.
Robertson was born and hauled Men County, Ontario, Canada in
eighteen seventy nine. Tinkerer Robertson produced a number of inventions,
(02:05):
including a new design for cufflinks and even a better mousetrap.
In nineteen oh five, received a patent in Canada for
a new design of a corkscrew that centered itself on
the bottle. Around the turn of the century, Robertson was
working through Eastern Canada as what was called a high
pitch man, meaning a traveling salesman for a Philadelphia tool company,
high pitchman would sell their wares, say on a street
(02:26):
corner Accounty Fair, calling out their wares, and among the
things that he was selling was a device of his
own design. Robert's twentieth century wrench brace was a multi
tool that could be used as a monkey wrench, as
a brace, as a bench vice, as a screwdriver. While
demonstrating the screwdriver, which was flat bladed, the blade slipped
and seriously cut his hand. That gave him the idea
(02:48):
of a new type of screwdriver head that was less
likely to slip or cam out. In eighteen seventy five,
Alan Cummings of New York City had been granted a
patent for a screw that used a cavity either a
square or triangle, rather than a slot, to address the
same problem. Cummings description noted, it is well known that
the ordinary screwhead provided with a slot is very susceptible
(03:09):
to injury caused mainly by the slipping of the screwdriver
from the slot when the screws being set home in
wood or metal. By admitting the usual slot and using
the proper shaped cavity and screwdriver, perfect safety is insured
to the metallic cap. But Cummings design had a flaw.
The way that you made the cavity that the screwdriver
fit into was by stamping it with a dye and
(03:30):
stamping it deeply enough that the screwdriver would set inside,
it would deform or weaken the screwhead. Robertson had a
better solution, which he applied for a patent in nineteen
o seven. His screw tapered the sides of the creer
gradually down to a pyramid shape that's not only prevented
the head from being deformed, but actually helped align the
metal grain, as he explained, knitting the atoms together for
(03:50):
greater strength. It had the added advantage of less waste,
since the slot of a slot headed screw was usually
cut out, losing a bit of metal and weakening the
head of the screw. Because it was less likely to
cam out, you could use more torque with the Robertson
screw and driver. As it was self centering, it could
be used with one hand, or as a slotted screw
driver usually required two. The head of the screw was
(04:11):
less likely to to form, and the Robertson screwdriver was
much better able to still remove the screw if it did.
It also worked better than the slotted screw if the
screw had been painted over. Robertson's screw and driver were
particularly attractive to furniture makers and boat builders, where it
was more of a problem if a flathead screw cammed out,
because it would damage the material around it damage the
(04:32):
value of the product. But perhaps best of all is
that robertson screw could be called formed. That is, because
the stamp tapered down inside the screw. That meant that
you could build the screw without ever having to heat
the metal. Cumming's designed, as ingenious as it was, probably
was never made during its patent life because the screw
simply couldn't be easily manufactured, but Robertson's design could be
(04:56):
cheaply manufactured in the millions, culling his invention the biggest
little invention of the twentieth century so far, Robertson gained
enough investors to open the P. L. Robertson Manufacturing Company
Limited in nineteen oh eight. He built a factory in Milton, Ontario,
which gave him tax breaks and at ten thousand dollars loan.
The patent was approved February nineteen o nine, and by
(05:18):
then the company was already filling orders. Robertson was just
thirty years old. While the Robertson Company described the initial
years as hard, with local competitors even challenging their patent,
the Robertson screw silly gained adherents among boat builders and
furniture makers. In nineteen thirteen, Fisher Auto Body open a
factory in Walkerville, Ontario, making wooden parts for the Ford
(05:39):
Model T. The Robertson screw offered a great advantage for manufacturing.
Fisher became one of Robertson's largest customers, using some seven
hundred screws per body. Robertson letters designed a screw for
metal to use on the all metal body of the
Ford Model A. Having been awarded international patents, Robertson saw
the opportunity to expand abroad, and so he went to Gillingham, England,
(06:01):
and established a company called the Recess Screw Company. He
marketed to British industry using the slogan the screw that
grips the driver, but his real plan was to manufacture
screws in England, but seldom in Germany and Russia and
the First World War and the Russian Revolution falled his plan.
Recess Crews turned to war production during the Great War
(06:23):
and produced things like firing needles and hand grenade pens,
But after the war, Recess Crews failed. There seems to have
have been several factors involved, including a glott of supply
following the war, and the actions of some unscrupulous investors.
But Robertson resigned as a director of the company. But
the company in Canada was still doing well, and Robertson
looked to expand into the United States. Then Henry Ford
(06:43):
came to the table. An analysis has shown that the
use of Robertson screws and the Ford plants in Canada
had saved two dollars and sixty cents a car, the
significant savings for a car that retail for only three
hundred ninety dollars and which was being produced in the millions.
Ford wanted to use Robertson screws in all his US plants,
but Ford wanted to say in production and an exclusive contract,
(07:03):
and Robertson stubbornly refused to give up that control. When
the deal fell through, Robertson not only did not get
the contract for the American Ford plants, but lost the
contracts in Canada, almost a third of his business. After
three failed tries, Robertson decided to never try to license
his screws outside of Canada again, but his marketing skills
made his screws and drivers the screwdrivers of choice in Canada,
(07:26):
even though just across the border of the United States
they're hardly known at all. But Ford was still using
flat screws, which were even more troublesome automated assembly lines
wherefascrew cammed out it costs time and slow manufacturing. The
solution started with a patent application in nineteen thirty two
by John P. Thompson, an auto mechanic living in Portland, Oregon.
(07:46):
Thompson's solution was similar to Robertson's. By tapering the screw
had a star dye could be used without distorting the metal,
and again stamping. The tapered design made the metal actually stronger.
In nineteen thirty three, when the patent was granted, Thompson
assigned it to Henry Frank Phillips. Like Robertson, Henry Phillips
had been a traveling salesman by the time that paton
(08:07):
was assigned to him. He was the mandating director of
a mining concern, the Oregon Copper Company. It's not only
clear why Thompson assigned the patent to Phillips, but Phillips
defined the design and was granted more patents. Unlike Robertson,
Phillips did not intend to manufacture screws, but hope to
license the patents to manufacture and collect royalties. Not surprisingly,
with the invention, Phillips got a lot of rejections from
(08:29):
companies who told me the idea lack promise for commercial success.
But eventually Phillips convinced Eugene E. Clark of the American
Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, to manufacture of the design.
By nineteen thirty four, the screw was available for consumers.
In nineteen thirty six, General Motors was invited to test
the design. The Phillips head screw first with into use
(08:49):
at GM making the nineteen thirty six Cadillac. Customers raved
about the amount of work time saved. Within just a
few years, virtually all US automakers, including Ford, we're using
Phllip's head screws. The airplane manufacturing and railroad industry likewise switched.
By nineteen thirty nine, twenty companies had licenses to produce
Phillips head screws. By nineteen forty, eighty five percent of
(09:12):
US screw manufacturers had a license for the design, and
the company grows more than one point three million adjusted dollars.
While the Second World War limited foreign licenses, it established
the Phillips head screw as an industry standard among wartime manufacturers.
The hundreds of thousands of planes and motor vehicles built
by the US during the war were largely screwed together
using Phillips head screws. While Robertson head Canada Phillips screws
(09:35):
are by industry estimates, by far the most popular type
of screw everywhere else in the world. The Robertson and
Phillips screws were the culmination of the development of screw
technology over a couple of hundred years, and they were
two types that rose to the top in an era
where there was a lot of innovation in the field.
It's really ironic that the events of the First World
(09:56):
War were part of the reason that the Robertson screw
was never developed internationally, whereas events the Second World War
where the reason that the Philip said its grew was
and the relative fates between the two say that invention
isn't about just the inspiration and pun intended drive of
the inventor, but of a complex interaction with historical forces
(10:16):
and powerful personalities, things that can impact every tool in
the toolbox. And you've been listening to the History Guy.
If you want more stories of forgotten history, please subscribe
to his YouTube channel, The History Guy Colin History deserves
to be remembered. The story of the Screwdriver War here
(10:38):
on our American Stories
This is our American Stories, and our next story comes
from a man who's simply known as the History Guy.
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guys also heard
right here on our American Stories. Here's the History Guy
with the story of the screwdriver. Wars. Screws as fasters
(00:37):
were not apparently produced until around the fifteenth century, at
least no mention as an e late fifteenth century manuscript.
Their initial use was as a fastener for parts of
medieval jousting armor, and in nearly the same period for
early firearms. The earliest screwdrivers were built to service these weapons,
and they were called either a screw tartar or a turnscrew,
(00:58):
and they had a pear shape wooden handle another looked
at like a modern flatheaded screwdriver. But these screws and
screwdrivers would have been custom made and used on very
expensive devices like wheel locks and jousting armor, and so
screws were not for the common folk. In seventeen sixty,
brothers Job and William Wyatt of Staffordshire patented a screwmaking
(01:20):
machine that used a file to cut into threads. Following
the pitch of a lead screw. This allowed mass production
of screws and was a precursor to industrial mass production machines.
The idea of using a lathe of some sort of
cut threads was variously improved upon until the process for
cold rolling threads was perfected in the eighteen eighties. But
virtually all of these screws used just a few turning methods,
(01:42):
either a hexagon or square that was turned externally or
a flat slot cut to turn internally, and as anyone
who has ever used one nose, flatheaded screws and screwdrivers
have their problems, but solutions were on the horizon. Peter L.
Robertson was born and hauled Men County, Ontario, Canada in
eighteen seventy nine. Tinkerer Robertson produced a number of inventions,
(02:05):
including a new design for cufflinks and even a better mousetrap.
In nineteen oh five, received a patent in Canada for
a new design of a corkscrew that centered itself on
the bottle. Around the turn of the century, Robertson was
working through Eastern Canada as what was called a high
pitch man, meaning a traveling salesman for a Philadelphia tool company,
high pitchman would sell their wares, say on a street
(02:26):
corner Accounty Fair, calling out their wares, and among the
things that he was selling was a device of his
own design. Robert's twentieth century wrench brace was a multi
tool that could be used as a monkey wrench, as
a brace, as a bench vice, as a screwdriver. While
demonstrating the screwdriver, which was flat bladed, the blade slipped
and seriously cut his hand. That gave him the idea
(02:48):
of a new type of screwdriver head that was less
likely to slip or cam out. In eighteen seventy five,
Alan Cummings of New York City had been granted a
patent for a screw that used a cavity either a
square or triangle, rather than a slot, to address the
same problem. Cummings description noted, it is well known that
the ordinary screwhead provided with a slot is very susceptible
(03:09):
to injury caused mainly by the slipping of the screwdriver
from the slot when the screws being set home in
wood or metal. By admitting the usual slot and using
the proper shaped cavity and screwdriver, perfect safety is insured
to the metallic cap. But Cummings design had a flaw.
The way that you made the cavity that the screwdriver
fit into was by stamping it with a dye and
(03:30):
stamping it deeply enough that the screwdriver would set inside,
it would deform or weaken the screwhead. Robertson had a
better solution, which he applied for a patent in nineteen
o seven. His screw tapered the sides of the creer
gradually down to a pyramid shape that's not only prevented
the head from being deformed, but actually helped align the
metal grain, as he explained, knitting the atoms together for
(03:50):
greater strength. It had the added advantage of less waste,
since the slot of a slot headed screw was usually
cut out, losing a bit of metal and weakening the
head of the screw. Because it was less likely to
cam out, you could use more torque with the Robertson
screw and driver. As it was self centering, it could
be used with one hand, or as a slotted screw
driver usually required two. The head of the screw was
(04:11):
less likely to to form, and the Robertson screwdriver was
much better able to still remove the screw if it did.
It also worked better than the slotted screw if the
screw had been painted over. Robertson's screw and driver were
particularly attractive to furniture makers and boat builders, where it
was more of a problem if a flathead screw cammed out,
because it would damage the material around it damage the
(04:32):
value of the product. But perhaps best of all is
that robertson screw could be called formed. That is, because
the stamp tapered down inside the screw. That meant that
you could build the screw without ever having to heat
the metal. Cumming's designed, as ingenious as it was, probably
was never made during its patent life because the screw
simply couldn't be easily manufactured, but Robertson's design could be
(04:56):
cheaply manufactured in the millions, culling his invention the biggest
little invention of the twentieth century so far, Robertson gained
enough investors to open the P. L. Robertson Manufacturing Company
Limited in nineteen oh eight. He built a factory in Milton, Ontario,
which gave him tax breaks and at ten thousand dollars loan.
The patent was approved February nineteen o nine, and by
(05:18):
then the company was already filling orders. Robertson was just
thirty years old. While the Robertson Company described the initial
years as hard, with local competitors even challenging their patent,
the Robertson screw silly gained adherents among boat builders and
furniture makers. In nineteen thirteen, Fisher Auto Body open a
factory in Walkerville, Ontario, making wooden parts for the Ford
(05:39):
Model T. The Robertson screw offered a great advantage for manufacturing.
Fisher became one of Robertson's largest customers, using some seven
hundred screws per body. Robertson letters designed a screw for
metal to use on the all metal body of the
Ford Model A. Having been awarded international patents, Robertson saw
the opportunity to expand abroad, and so he went to Gillingham, England,
(06:01):
and established a company called the Recess Screw Company. He
marketed to British industry using the slogan the screw that
grips the driver, but his real plan was to manufacture
screws in England, but seldom in Germany and Russia and
the First World War and the Russian Revolution falled his plan.
Recess Crews turned to war production during the Great War
(06:23):
and produced things like firing needles and hand grenade pens,
But after the war, Recess Crews failed. There seems to have
have been several factors involved, including a glott of supply
following the war, and the actions of some unscrupulous investors.
But Robertson resigned as a director of the company. But
the company in Canada was still doing well, and Robertson
looked to expand into the United States. Then Henry Ford
(06:43):
came to the table. An analysis has shown that the
use of Robertson screws and the Ford plants in Canada
had saved two dollars and sixty cents a car, the
significant savings for a car that retail for only three
hundred ninety dollars and which was being produced in the millions.
Ford wanted to use Robertson screws in all his US plants,
but Ford wanted to say in production and an exclusive contract,
(07:03):
and Robertson stubbornly refused to give up that control. When
the deal fell through, Robertson not only did not get
the contract for the American Ford plants, but lost the
contracts in Canada, almost a third of his business. After
three failed tries, Robertson decided to never try to license
his screws outside of Canada again, but his marketing skills
made his screws and drivers the screwdrivers of choice in Canada,
(07:26):
even though just across the border of the United States
they're hardly known at all. But Ford was still using
flat screws, which were even more troublesome automated assembly lines
wherefascrew cammed out it costs time and slow manufacturing. The
solution started with a patent application in nineteen thirty two
by John P. Thompson, an auto mechanic living in Portland, Oregon.
(07:46):
Thompson's solution was similar to Robertson's. By tapering the screw
had a star dye could be used without distorting the metal,
and again stamping. The tapered design made the metal actually stronger.
In nineteen thirty three, when the patent was granted, Thompson
assigned it to Henry Frank Phillips. Like Robertson, Henry Phillips
had been a traveling salesman by the time that paton
(08:07):
was assigned to him. He was the mandating director of
a mining concern, the Oregon Copper Company. It's not only
clear why Thompson assigned the patent to Phillips, but Phillips
defined the design and was granted more patents. Unlike Robertson,
Phillips did not intend to manufacture screws, but hope to
license the patents to manufacture and collect royalties. Not surprisingly,
with the invention, Phillips got a lot of rejections from
(08:29):
companies who told me the idea lack promise for commercial success.
But eventually Phillips convinced Eugene E. Clark of the American
Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, to manufacture of the design.
By nineteen thirty four, the screw was available for consumers.
In nineteen thirty six, General Motors was invited to test
the design. The Phillips head screw first with into use
(08:49):
at GM making the nineteen thirty six Cadillac. Customers raved
about the amount of work time saved. Within just a
few years, virtually all US automakers, including Ford, we're using
Phllip's head screws. The airplane manufacturing and railroad industry likewise switched.
By nineteen thirty nine, twenty companies had licenses to produce
Phillips head screws. By nineteen forty, eighty five percent of
(09:12):
US screw manufacturers had a license for the design, and
the company grows more than one point three million adjusted dollars.
While the Second World War limited foreign licenses, it established
the Phillips head screw as an industry standard among wartime manufacturers.
The hundreds of thousands of planes and motor vehicles built
by the US during the war were largely screwed together
using Phillips head screws. While Robertson head Canada Phillips screws
(09:35):
are by industry estimates, by far the most popular type
of screw everywhere else in the world. The Robertson and
Phillips screws were the culmination of the development of screw
technology over a couple of hundred years, and they were
two types that rose to the top in an era
where there was a lot of innovation in the field.
It's really ironic that the events of the First World
(09:56):
War were part of the reason that the Robertson screw
was never developed internationally, whereas events the Second World War
where the reason that the Philip said its grew was
and the relative fates between the two say that invention
isn't about just the inspiration and pun intended drive of
the inventor, but of a complex interaction with historical forces
(10:16):
and powerful personalities, things that can impact every tool in
the toolbox. And you've been listening to the History Guy.
If you want more stories of forgotten history, please subscribe
to his YouTube channel, The History Guy Colin History deserves
to be remembered. The story of the Screwdriver War here
(10:38):
on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.