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However, "machine" screws like Philips and Pozidrive have the advantage that their drivers self centre and thus are easier to use with mechanical systems.
Is Pozidrive the same as Torx? And what is the name of the screw used in Canada with the square hole in it? Don't some screws also have a hole for an allen key in them? My hubby says there is also something called a Whitworth screw or bolt head in GB. Any comment Brits?  So many questions! |
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| No.
Pozidrive looks very like Philips. Torx screws have a recess shaped like a multi-pointed star.
The Whitworth thread is the first ever standardised thread and was invented in England over one hundred years ago. It is a rather coarse thread and is not much used nowadays. In the UK we now use mainly metric (although Rolls-Royce use AF - or did on my Shadow II).
One place where you will still see the Whitworth thread used is on cameras. The screw thread in the camera body that takes a tripod or other attachment is always Whitworth - one of the few cases of world-wide standardisation that I have ever noted.
Richard English |
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| My comment that Phillips screws are most common in the U.S, is based only on my observation that almost every product I use that is manufactured in America is fastened with Phillips.
Slot screws have been around since the 1500s. The big problem is that the driver slips sooo easily. Robertson screws were invented in Canada about 100 years ago by Peter Robertson. He immediately captured the Canadian market but, even though he had a patent, he couldn't crack the American market. Phillips screws were invented about 1930 by Henry Phillips of Portland, Oregon. He sold them to the auto industry on the dubious merit that the driver will slip if enough torque is applied. Go figure! A friend who lived in the U.S. told me that many manufacturers in Michigan have discovered the Robertson screw and since the patent is still held by the Robertson firm, the wholesaler in Windsor, Ontario is making a fortune shipping load after load across the border. This is only hearsay evidence for the superiority of Robertson screws, but I am a believer. Allen screws are similar to Robertson but I consider that Allen is just gilding the lily. Don't know about Pozidrive screws but if they are self-holding, I'm all for 'em! |
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| Boy, I had not idea there were so many different screws....ah, better re-phrase that....so many different types of screws used in carpentry. Duncan, you certainly seem to know what you're talking about and I don't doubt you--but, if I were to go to a hardware store and count the phillips screwdrivers versus the straight-edged types, I believe I would find the count 2 to 1 in favor of the straight-edged type. That's why I remain confused. And, TrossL, I know what you mean! Since I seemed to have purchased the only pint of Hog's Back T.E.A. (absolutely my favorite so far) in Chicagoland, and since I am continuing to wait for my Fuller's, I have been enjoying some other European beers. Tonight I had a loverly Scottish ale called Belhaven Scottish Ale. The fact is, if we could import some of this U.K. ale into the U.S., I believe we could make a fortune. How about it--should we start a beer import business together?   |
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2 to 1 in favor of the straight edged type.
Kalleh, you're probably right. Lots of slot screwdrivers in the shops. But,if I polled a bunch of my fellow tradesman, I venture to say that not one of them would admit to buying a slot screw in the last ten years. However, slot screwdrivers are a different matter! Personally, I find them just the right tool to pry warped hardwood flooring into place during installation. A slot screwdriver is,in my opinion, a tool in search of an application other than the original. |
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| At first glance the Philips and the Pozidrive look the same. However, the angles are different and the pozidrive also has a small projection between each of the main parts of the cross that wedges into a slot in the screw. This make the screw stick to the driver.
The two types are not interchangeable and many people who moan about their slipping cross-head screws are simply using a philips driver on a pozidrive screw or vice versa.
Richard English |
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| One factor that slows America's conversion to metric is that the bulk of the surface of continental U.S.A. is a checkerboard pattern of squares, called "sections," one mile on a side. As we all know, each section contains 640 acres. Many of those section lines have roads on them. Permanent.
Otherwise, this is a topic that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole !! |
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| jerry... one more post and you'll be a member! |
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| A junior membership, I ween,
Is the only ship I ever have seen!
A junior membership, I think,
Is the highest level to which I'd sink.
A junior membership, I thought,
Was the highest level I'd ever sought.
When can I expect to receive my Official Member Badge, T-shirt, Bumper Sticker, Coffee Mug, and De-coder Ring?
Is it customary for new Members to throw a party? If so, you're all invited. |
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| I see I have failed to answer this.
I have explained this previously but for the benefit of those who didn't see the posting, here is the explanation again.
Most "ordinary" beers are allowed to ferment in the brewery and, when the fermentation is finished, are bottled. To give the beer sparkle, carbon dioxide is added at the bottling stage.
Bottle-conditioned beer is made differently. Once the brewery fermentation is over the beer is dosed with sugar and the bottle is then sealed. It undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle which give the beer its sparkle.
Bottle-conditioned beer is actually simpler to make than brewery-conditioned beer but it has the characteristic of having a yeast sediment. Many people, having been brainwashed into believing that any drink that is not clear and bright must be somehow inferior, are put off by this.
Bottle-conditioning is similar to the process that gives Champagne its sparkle and the difference in taste between bottle-conditioned beer and ordinary bottled beer is much the same as the difference bewteen Champagne and cheap sparkling wine.
Richard English |
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| One important fact about screwdrivers should not be forgotten.
The slot-headed screw is a much older type whose origins go back into the mists of history; Philips and the other new styles are not yet a hundred years old. There will therefore be, for may years, a need for the slotted screwdriver if only to remove the older screw type - even if no more were to be made.
Having said which, the slotted crew is still made and is still popular and probably still outsells all other types for simple, low-tech applications like woodscrewing. It is cheap to make, reliable, simple to use and needs no complex tool. The drivers for slot-headed are simply formed and, when damaged, can be reground with simple hand tools. Even the screws can be re-slotted in an emergency.
The specialist drivers cost more to make and, when damaged, cannot be reground effectively. Some, like torx heads, cannot be reground at all. And there is nothing that can be done with a damaged specialist screw head - except, maybe, to cut a slot in it!
I predict a long and steady future for the slotted screw!
Richard English |
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I will go to the hardware store and ask which kind of screws people use--phillips or straight-slot.
Kalleh! Don't misunderstand me. I'm in Canada. Robertson screws RULE here. Phillips and slots are both anathema. I called my neighbour who's been in the hardware business all his adult life and he says: a) He hasn't sold a single slot screw in the last 15 years. b) The ONLY Phillips screws he sells are drywall screws(probably because drywall screwguns are made in the USA) and c) about 99% of his overall sales are Robertson. This confirms what I thought.Richard may have a point about slot screwdrivers hanging on so we can still remove OLD screws. |
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| Richard's description of bottle-conditioned beer is a perfect description of my HOME BREW! I just finished a bottle that I made from a two-row barley/wheat malt. Very nice. Think I'll have another. Didn't know, though, that what I've been doing for over thirty years is called bottle-conditioning! I feel just like Moliere's character M.Jourdain in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: "Good Heavens! For more than forty years I have been speaking prosewithout knowing it!" |
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| That's interesting; over here those kinds of screws are pozidrive headed.
Richard English |
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| While we are discussing screws and fasteners, my hubby and I get the biggest kick out of the advertisements for Sears Craftsman tools. You will see one commercial for their 175 piece socket set so you have every socket you could ever dream of for every application. Then 15 minutes later, there is a commercial for the "all-in-one" type tool to replace all the other sockets in your box. The tool that fits on every shape and size head. Oxymorons? |
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While we are discussing screws and fasteners, my hubby and I get the biggest kick out of the advertisements for Sears Craftsman tools. You will see one commercial for their 175 piece socket set so you have every socket you could ever dream of for every application. Then 15 minutes later, there is a commercial for the "all-in-one" type tool to replace all the other sockets in your box. The tool that fits on every shape and size head. Oxymorons?
Maybe the first commercial is appealing to men (you know how they love their tools...the more, the better). The second commercial is geared toward women.  |
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Maybe the first commercial is appealing to men (you know how they love their tools...the more, the better). The second commercial is geared toward women.
Well the second commercial stars Bob Villa, and you know how he sets my heart aflutter! |
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! We'd love a party--but you must supply us with Hog's Back T.E.A. (perhaps you've seen some of our beer posts????)