Robertson Screw (Square Head)

When it comes to screwing, we Canadians can take pride with the Robertson screw aka the square one. The Robertson screw has a recessed square in the head which greatly reduces slipping and stripping when fastening stuff. The screw was designed and patented by Peter Lymburner Robertson in Milton, Ontario in 1909. It is far superior to that of that a flat or Philips, ask any Canadian contractor!

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While working for a Philadelphia based tool company, P.L. Robertson cut his hand during a sales presentation when his flat screwdriver slipped from the flat screw. It was at that moment that he decided to design a better screw, which led to the square head us Canadians know and love today.

The Robertson screw was used in early Ford Model T cars and saved approximately 2 hours of production time each car. Henry Ford had caught wind of this and wanted to have exclusive rights to manufacture the screw in the United States, however P.L. Robertson did not agree to the terms Ford wanted and left without signing a deal. Ford would later produce the screw that Henry F Phillips designed, the star.Despite leaving a huge opportunity to open up to the US market, Robertson returned and started to sell screws in industrial size packaging to manufacturers in Canada. To this day the screw is widely used here.   

What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here