All About Pocket Knives

When electricity was first invented by Al Gore (lol) screwdriver blades began to be seen in earnest in pocket knives, notably in the TL-29s and 'scout' knives. A simple type to manufacture, and very useful in many applications, although any one screwdriver blade rarely fit any screw well. By World War Two this type of blade in a multipurpose knife was beginning to enter obsolescence, although it continues on and on and on. Why? Because other types of screwdriver blades are difficult to add to a knife and are ugly. That is what I think; A few 'scout' type knives have been made with Phillips screwdriver blades. Comments are welcome!

"Henry Frank Phillips (June 4, 1889 – April 13, 1958) was a U.S. businessman from Portland, Oregon. The Phillips-head ("crosshead") screw and screwdriver are named after him.The importance of the crosshead screw design lies in its self-centering property, useful on automated production lines that use powered screwdrivers. Phillips' major contribution was in driving the crosshead concept forward to the point where it was adopted by screwmakers and automobile companies. The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented (#1,908,080) a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it. After failing to interest manufacturers, Thompson sold his self-centering design to Phillips in 1935. Phillips formed the Phillips Screw Company in 1934. After refining the design himself (U.S. Patent #2,046,343, U.S. Patents #2,046,837 to 2,046,840) for the American Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, Phillips succeeded in bringing the design to industrial manufacturing and promoting its rapid adoption as a machine screw standard. One of the first customers was General Motors who used the innovative design in 1936 for its Cadillac assembly-lines. By 1940, 85% of U.S. screw manufacturers had a license for the design. Due to failing health, Phillips retired in 1945. He died in 1958. He went to Benson Polytechnic High School."

I'm going to let Mr. Phillip's slide, but if I ever run up on Mr. Torx or Mr. Figure eight I'm going to strangle them.

"Mr. Figure eight"

Are you perhaps referring to the "clutch head" screw?

I have a clutch-head screwdriver which I purchased in (about) 1964 to address screws in my 1949/50/51/52/53/54/55 Chevy pickup, with parts in it from perhaps all of those years. Maybe I'll make an ice pick out of it; it is still in my toolbox.

jerryd6818 wrote:"Mr. Figure eight"

Are you perhaps referring to the "clutch head" screw?

That would be the culprit.

I don't recall the last time I saw a clutch head fastener. Are they still in use?

Robertson head screws are the best, come in sizes 1,2,3 & 4. Use the correct size screwdriver and the purchase is 100% solid. The screwdriver tip does not twist out of the screw head. YEAH Robertson !
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Robertson head screws are the best, come in sizes 1,2,3 & 4. Use the correct size screwdriver and the purchase is 100% solid. The screwdriver tip does not twist out of the screw head. YEAH Robertson !
kj

I will second that emotion!! No slippage is a good thing. The clutch head screws I saw were commonly used on door strike plate adjusters on the 1950s cars. I still have a few left over from that era.

I feel certain that it is the tool makers who are behind this proliferation of screw heads. I owned a Saturn Vue at one time that was rife with Male torx head bolts and female torx head machine screws of all different sizes. Of course each one required a different socket or screwdriver.

One thing I like about the square drive (robertson I guess, although I've only ever heard them called square drive) fasteners is that one driver will fit multiple sizes of screw. For example here is my #8-9 & #10 square drive screwdriver

As you can see it has a sloped section for sizes 8-9 and a stepped section for #10

Oh and I see clutch type screws used as "security" screws in some applications. Here is my New Brittian M13 as an example screwdriver

The square head screws were invented by Robertson in Canada. For reasons i don't know, nobody seems to know, Robertson screws have never been available in USA. The sizes here are 1-4 and you need the correct 1-4 screwdriver, so not the same as the "square drive" screws you have.
kj

Wow.....I learned something today. Never heard of a clutch head screw before.
Interesting!

Paul

This is one of those fascinating subjects that makes me ask stupid questions. For example, wouldn't you think that after hundreds of years of mechanized civilization, humans would have figured out the optimal type of screw insertion & extraction device?? It seems to me there should be exactly ONE type of screw head. Sure, there will be different sizes, but by now the debate should be over!

And don't even get me started on DC power supply and USB connectors...

A very interesting thread despite the fact that my mechanical skills are at the level of an alert 5 year old. Well done tongueriver and everyone else.

I read that the reason robertson screws were never available in the USA was because Henry Ford wanted to buy the patent of off Robertson. Robertson declined the offer and Ford said that you will never sell them in the US. Not 100% sure if this is true but I have read that on more than one occasion. KJ robertsons also come in a 0 size which is a #4. Pete

I hate Phillips head screws. The seen things always want to strip out on me. Maybe I’m just to ham handed. I love the torx screws. They work a lot better for me.

I’ve never used the square drive ones, but I was in ACE the other day and did see a box of them. I almost bought them just to try them out.

Interesting thread. For anyone not familiar with the site,Alloy Artifacts has some of the most fascinating information on obscure tools. I got sucked into collecting vintage tools(like I REALLY needed another addiction)when I bought a bunch of them in a tool box just to get the box.
Researching those tools led me to the AA site and it's been down hill ever since Before standardization took place in regard to bolts and nuts it took an engineering degree just to decipher what wrench to use on what bolt and nut! The proliferation of 32nd sized wrenches was unbelieveable! I have them in 17,19,21,23,25,and 31/32nds and probably more.
Same thing for tools. Some time back I bought several tools at an estate sale that I thought were 1/4" square drive. Turns out they were 9/32" drive! Never heard of them until I read that many drive sizes were available including various sizes of hex drives and even one shaped like a clutch head(look up Walden-Worcester on the AA site to see one). Standardization took place only after WWII.

When you dismantle an old deck that has Phillips, Square head and Torx screws mixed in holding the deck boards down, the Phillips strip out easily and are a pain in the butt to get out. The square drive are better but about one in ten strip out, but Torx almost never give you any problem. They are by far the easiest to use building and dismantling. For much of the trim work I do now, I use Torx trim screws instead of trim nails except for base and casing where a brad of finish nailer is used. Torx beats them all. They break off before they strip out.____Dave

Over the years I learned a few things as a maintenance foreman. Phillips head screws in commercial door hinges, wood or metal, are way ahead of the old straight slotted screws of many years ago. Always use the proper size Phillips bit and everything works well.
I agree 100% with Dave about the Torx head screws for outside decks. They became more common a few years before I retired and are really the ticket in my book for decks and wooden walkways for the reason Dave mentioned. Our school district had a bunch of portable classrooms and every time the wind would change direction, some administrator would decide to move or reposition a portable building. This led us to appreciate easy disassembly afforded by the Torx headed wood screws, very few problems. We used a bunch of them just last Saturday building a handi-cap ramp for a lady in our church.
Great topic for a common sense discussion!
Treefarmer

[quote="kootenay joe"]The square head screws were invented by Robertson in Canada. For reasons i don't know, nobody seems to know, Robertson screws have never been available in USA. The sizes here are 1-4 and you need the correct 1-4 screwdriver, so not the same as the "square drive" screws you have.
My 25 foot Coachman travel trailer was loaded with them. Had to buy a tip so I could take off the J channel and put new permagum behind it too stop a leak. I also have a box of then for deck screws. TORX is best for a deck.