Today, while at the Long Beach meet, I saw two original Canadian terminal blocks. They used Robertson screws. Never have seen one before.
They're quite common in this part of the world. The dash light and steering wheel also use them.
Canadian built T's and A's use predominately Robertson screws. I have 1 of each. There are other subtle differences in the Canadian cars
I learn something new about T's from this forum fairly often.
Are the Robertson screws similar to the square drive screws that are around today? Was there a Robertson driver head or screwdriver that Ford manufactured or was it purchased from another supplier.
New one on me.
Robertson screws are very common here in Canada (they were invented here) and are used extensively on wood screws, stove bolts, machine screws, etc. Great when you are installing the fastener in a hard to get at place since you can place the screw on the end of the screwdriver and it will stay there under most conditions. 4 common sizes with colour coded screwdrivers-yellow, green, red and black. Probably the same as the square drive screws that you are refering to. I have been told that the US was very reluctant to adopt these screws because they were developed/manufactured in Canada
My son in law is an electrician and those are used extensively in the electrical business - I believe they are referred to as a #2 something ?
It seems that Robertson was reluctant to license others to use the screws.
"Robertson had licensed the screw design to a maker in England, but the party that he was dealing with intentionally drove the company into bankruptcy and purchased the rights from the trustee, thus circumventing Robertson.[citation needed] He spent a small fortune buying back the rights. Subsequently, he refused to allow anyone to make the screws under license. When Henry Ford tried out the Robertson screws he found they saved considerable time in Model T production, but when Robertson refused to license the screws to Ford, Ford realized that the supply of screws would not be guaranteed and chose to limit their use in production to Ford's Canadian division.[23][24][25] Robertson's refusal to license his screws prevented their widespread adoption in the United States, where the more widely licensed Phillips head has gained acceptance. The restriction of licensing of Robertson's internal-wrenching square may have sped the development of the internal-wrenching hexagon, although documentation of this is limited."
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives
Jim
This makes you wonder how history would have changed if Robertson would have granted Ford the license to use them. It might have changed automobile production in a big way and the screw industry.
Very interesting indeed.