Honestly every time I go down to the US to do anything, I have a real problem using anything but a Roberts screw. I guess in Canada we are just spoiled, we invented it therefore it's everywhere, HERE.
As far as the Ford comment goes the only reason Ford never ended up using it was because the inventor was not interested in selling off patent rights so that Ford could make their own screws, the inventor of the Philips was a little smarter and allowed almost anyone to hold a patent rights on his screw and therefore he got money from everyone. The inventor of the Roberts was narrow minded and was hoping to make his money making screws.
Short Roberts lesson
1) Factory was in Milton Ontario
2) Roberts screws are faster and cheaper to make than any other screw because the head can be made with a single stamp.
3) Normally Roberts screw drivers and bits are stronger because they are hardened metal inserted into soft metal handles. -This normally also makes them cheaper to make.
4) Up until the new Philips head (with square bottom) the Roberts was the only screw that was easy to use with one hand and could be used upside down.
5) Ford could have saved a few hours on every car with the Robertson screws but didn't want to buy all the screw from Robertson Manufacturing
Peter Robertson, Inventor of the Robertson Screwnail
Peter Lymburner Robertson was born and raised not far from Caledonia in Seneca township, one of a family of six children born to John and Annie Robertson. His father would die in the Yukon in 1886, bitten by the Gold Fever, leaving Peter's mother to raise the family. Of the other children, John Junior went to Nevada, Will became a doctor in Toronto, Hutton taught school and later took up dentistry, Jessie married and Isa remained single at least until the time she left Seneca.
Peter, a mechanically minded person with an entrepreneurial bent, began his career as an agent or salesman. In 1907 he established the P.L. Robertson Manufacturing Company in Hamilton. A year later it was relocated to nearby Milton. This company is known to be the first firm in the world to produce the square recessed screw and the accompanying screw driver, patented in many countries throughout the world as the Robertson screw. The Ontario inventor used an ingenious process he had developed to punch square holes into cold metal, then developing the innovative screw for industrial markets. The Robertson screw is still used around the world today.
In the company's first two decades it steadily expanded operations and by
1930 when the last patent on the Robertson screw and the equipment used in its manufacture expired, the firm had already begun to diversify its products.
The very early years had been tough going. Peter's company had a difficult time breaking into the manufacturing field in opposition to some large companies already positioned in the market place. However, with his innovation and his perseverance and with support from the emerging Ford Company standing behind him, Robertson succeeded. At one time P.L. Robertson Manufacturing shipped a twenty-ton order of screws to England.
On November 8, 1986, the Milton Historical Society and the Ontario Heritage Foundation commemorated the location on Bronte Street where, from 1908 to
1951, Peter Lymburner Robertson invented the screw and screwdriver and went on to achieve international manufacturing recognition. Also the financial assistance from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Culture and the Town of Milton led to a plaque being unveiled to indicate the location on Martin Street where Robertson lived as a life-long bachelor from 1916 until he died in 1951. Milton considers the Seneca township-born Peter Robertson to be one of its most considerate benefactors as well as an industrialist, inventor and author. In 1934 he wrote a remarkable book entitled The Gold Standard which won acclaim in many circles.
The Company is now operated as Robertson Whitehouse Company, one of the largest manufacturers in North America of light fasteners and the original Robertson screw.