I like to fix things. I can do little fixes here and there. Fixing a knob on a drawer or making a closet door close right. Most of the time, this involves tools. And I’ll tell you. I love tools.
But when I go to fix something and pull out a Phillips head screwdriver, I often wonder about that thing. What does the Phillips mean to me? I mean, a flathead screwdriver is obvious, what with the flat head and all.
And here is the other thing. Why have two different kinds of screws at all? What benefits does one have over the other? It’s not all that screwy.
I had to find out. According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Phillips in Phillips head refers to Henry Phillips. He was an inventor. And in the early 1900s, he decided to rethink fasteners.
It started in 1933. Our pal Henry Phillips obtained the rights to a socket screw invented by John Thompson. It had a cross-slotted rather than slit head. But to turn the screw, one had to use a tool that resembled an arrow at the end.
Thompson had the patent for this. So. Why did he sell that patent? Apparently, he had trouble getting manufacturers interested in his screw. Those people worried that such a screw might be damaged during production because of the deep depression needed in the center.
Anyway. Phillips tweaked Thompson’s design further. He made that little cross thing we all know. The NIHF calls it a “cruciform recess” in the head. This made it both easier to mass-produce and to turn by hand.
Good old Henry Phillips formed the Phillips Screw Company and eventually convinced major manufacturers to switch to his now-patented design.
They say the Phillips head is superior. That’s because the screw could be self-centered. If you have ever driven in a flathead screw, you will know that it has to be centered in the hole perfectly. Also, the screwdriver has to line up neat and tidy before pressure can be applied. Otherwise, it wiggles and won’t catch the thread. With a Phillips head, the crosshead doesn’t allow for slippage, and the screw is automatically centered.
So there it is. The Henry Phillips goodness.
And if you don’t really care?
Well. Then. Screw it.
“””””””””””””””””””
“The right tool for the right job makes all the difference.” — Henry Petroski
“””””””””””””””””””
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe.” — Abraham Lincoln
“””””””””””””””””””
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” — Abraham Maslow
“””””””””””””””””””
