Who invented the slotted screw

US Patent No. Born June 4, - Died April 13, Related Inductees. The Phillips screw and driver, originally invented by Portlander John P. Thompson, dramatically increased the speed of manufacturing and made the Phillips screwdriver a necessity in every toolbox. Thompson applied for the patent rights on a "Screw" U. Patent in Little information remains about Thompson. A Sunday Oregonian article from stated that Thompson, who died in Portland on September 4, , had been an auto mechanic when he invented the screw.

Phillips, the managing director of the Oregon Copper Company, a mining outfit in eastern Oregon. The wording on the patent means that it was awarded directly to Henry Phillips, even though Thompson is credited with the invention.

There is no locally available information as to why Thompson transferred the rights to Phillips, but there may have been a relationship between Phillips and Thompson predating the issuance of the patent, and perhaps even the application for the patent. After obtaining the first two patents, Phillips formed the Phillips Screw Company in Portland in with the aim of licensing the design to manufacturers and collecting the royalties.

He soon persuaded E. E Clark, the president of the American Screw Company, to manufacture the screw, and in the next four years the Phillips Screw Company had obtained six additional patents modifying the design. By the screw was available to consumers, and the first industrial customer was General Motors, which used Phillips screws to build Cadillac automobiles in Soon after, it was adopted by the railroad and aviation industries.

Until the invention of the Phillips screw, American assembly lines, craftsmen, and consumers used regular, slotted-head screws. But that design was problematic for three reasons: it was difficult to align the driver with the screw aperture; the driver tended to slip from the open ends; and the slot required a closely matching bit. The cruciform drive addressed those problems. Although the Phillips screw became ubiquitous through its usefulness on the assembly line, it is unknown whether Thompson or Phillips originally intended the invention to specifically solve the challenges presented by regular head screws in manufacturing.

Thompson's original patent for a "Screw driver" U. An Allen key is a hexagonal shaped wrench. The Allen key may have been invented by American, Gilbert F. Heublein, however, this is still being researched and should not be considered a fact. Heublein was an importer and distributor of foods and beverage. Screwdriver In , the flat-bladed bit for the carpenter's brace was invented, the precursor to the first simple screwdriver.

Handheld screwdrivers first appeared after Important disclaimer information about this About site. Depression Self-Test Vitamins for Depression? Most Popular Articles. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together — such as wood — and to position objects. Often screws have a head on one end of the screw that allows it to be turned. These pentalobe , 5 point heads are not to be confused with Torx Plus Security heads which have 6 points. The Different Types of Screwdrivers: Flathead screwdriver.

Just your basic, single-bladed head at the end of a shank and a handle. Phillips head screwdriver. Allen screwdriver. Jewelry screwdrivers. Multipurpose screwdriver.

Ratchet drivers. Corded power driver. Cordless power driver. Overall the screw are made from low to medium carbon steel wire, but other tough and inexpensive metals may be substituted, such as stainless steel , brass, nickel alloys, or aluminum alloy.

The Steel Screw may be coated or plated with zinc, cadmium, nickel, or chromium for extra protection. Early screws were made from wood and were used in wine presses, olive oil presses, and for pressing clothes. Metal screws and nuts used to fasten two objects together first appeared in the fifteenth century.

The most common form consists of a cylindrical shaft with helical grooves or ridges called threads around the outside. The screw passes through a hole in another object or medium, with threads on the inside of the hole that mesh with the screw's threads. There are many other examples of screws including the grooves on a jar or soda bottle lids, the end of light bulbs, water faucets and hoses, bottle caps, some ink pens, gas tank caps on cars, and many others.