Re-Inventing The Screw

By Donna Danielli

It took a slip of a screwdriver and a cut on his hand to convince Peter Lymburner Robertson that there had to be a better way to do things. The traveling salesman injured his hand while demonstrating a spring loaded screwdriver and after a little spare time in his workshop, applied for a patent in 1906 for a socket head screw.

Robertson's socket head screw revolutionized the industry. The old, slotted screw had worked under a number of disadvantages. It was easy to push the screwdriver out of the slot, it was next to impossible to tighten the screw one handed when the user was in a confined space or on a ladder, and it wasn't uncommon to strip the slot when tightening or loosening the screw. Robertson's screw addressed all of these problems. "This is considered by many as the biggest little invention of the twentieth century so far," he was heard to exclaim. With an accuracy within one one-thousandth of an inch, this special square headed screwdriver had a tighter fit than a slot and rarely slipped.

P.L. Robertson was offered a $10,000 tax free loan from the Town to attract his new factory to Milton, Ontario Canada in 1908. Not only did he pay back every cent of that loan but he also provided a drastic change to Milton's economy. Local economy in 1908 relied heavily on farming, retail, Martin's Mill and the brickyard which laid off hundreds each winter. For decades to come, the screw factory offered the best chance at a year round job.

The Robertson socket head screw soared in popularity. Craftsmen favored it because it was self-centering and could be driven with one hand. Industry came to rely on it for the way it reduced product damage and sped up production. The Fisher Body Company, which made wood bodies in Canada for Ford cars used four to six gross of Robertson screws in the bodywork of the Model T and eventually Robertson produced socket screws for metal for the metal bodied Model A.

The company diversified as Robertson filed more patents and production began in nails, hardware, wire and rivets. By the 1930's Robertson-Whitehouse staff accounted for 20% of Milton's workforce. More than 20 tonnes of brass screws were later produced during World War II. These screws, used in British shipyards, had a special two-way head, allowing them to be driven with either a Robertson or a slot screwdriver.

P.L. Robertson maintained control of his company until his death in 1951. Today, Robertson-Whitehouse is owned by the Chicago Based Marmon Group and employs approximately 350, with 160 in Milton and the rest spread out in manufacturing subsidiaries in Montreal and South Carolina, as well as warehouse/sales outlets in Calgary, North Carolina, Florida and Indiana.