4 ms·

I have never had a Robertson (square hole) screw strip out or have any problem, and it's impossible to use the wrong size screwdriver, which is not the case for

by beachy 4y ago

I have never had a Robertson (square hole) screw strip out or have any problem, and it's impossible to use the wrong size screwdriver, which is not the case for philips head or posidrive. Since Robertson is better yet so much simpler, I can only imagine it was hard to manufacture in the old days or they would surely be more widespread.

nkurz 4y ago
I haven't seen anyone claim that it was hard to manufacture. Sadly, the answer seems to be that Robertson screwed up the initial licensing so badly that the technically worse Phillips took over the market. Here's an account: https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/robertson-screwdriver-history/ https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/robertson-screwd... Some people try to argue that Phillips was actually superior, since it cams out rather than breaks, but I feel like they are just making excuses. I'm confused why Robertson/Square is still so hard to find in the US. I don't think my local Home Depot carries any. Torx (which is just about as good) occupies the niche it would otherwise have.
- selcuka 4y ago
  > Some people try to argue that Phillips was actually superior, since it cams out rather than breaks, but I feel like they are just making excuses. To be honest I like that square heads just break as I can simply hide the hole and drill a new one instead of trying to remove the stripped head.
- cf100clunk 4y ago
  Henry Ford seems to come off lightly in that article. Legend has it that his terms were almost exclusive, so Robertson walked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mDqKtivuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mDqKtivuI
Lammy 4y ago
I’ve never had a Robertson head strip out either, and in fact the drivers grip the heads so well that the few failures I have experienced were all due to the threads binding in the material followed by me overtorquing it until the heads just twisted right off the top of the screw shafts.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
  They can strip when the driver bit is worn on the corners.

by beachy 4y ago

nkurz 4y ago

I haven't seen anyone claim that it was hard to manufacture. Sadly, the answer seems to be that Robertson screwed up the initial licensing so badly that the technically worse Phillips took over the market. Here's an account: https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/robertson-screwdriver-history/ https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/robertson-screwd... Some people try to argue that Phillips was actually superior, since it cams out rather than breaks, but I feel like they are just making excuses. I'm confused why Robertson/Square is still so hard to find in the US. I don't think my local Home Depot carries any. Torx (which is just about as good) occupies the niche it would otherwise have.

selcuka 4y ago
> Some people try to argue that Phillips was actually superior, since it cams out rather than breaks, but I feel like they are just making excuses. To be honest I like that square heads just break as I can simply hide the hole and drill a new one instead of trying to remove the stripped head.
cf100clunk 4y ago
Henry Ford seems to come off lightly in that article. Legend has it that his terms were almost exclusive, so Robertson walked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mDqKtivuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mDqKtivuI

Lammy 4y ago

I’ve never had a Robertson head strip out either, and in fact the drivers grip the heads so well that the few failures I have experienced were all due to the threads binding in the material followed by me overtorquing it until the heads just twisted right off the top of the screw shafts.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
They can strip when the driver bit is worn on the corners.