ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Robertson Screwdrivers

I live in Canada. Robertsons are the only type of screw I normally use. Of equipment fromthe USA is all Phillips.
The reason you don't see them USA is because of Henry Ford.

Read the story here. http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Ontario/robertson_screws.htm

I agree I would rather use the square drive option rather than phillips. Now if Klein would make a Robertson driver. Or do they? I haven't looked on their site but I haven't seen them at the suppply house.

-Hal

Here you go Hal they have a bunch of them.

Of course they do. I use em everyday. They are the long shaft type with the excellent rubber handle. I have a "red" robbie and a "green" robbie. These are the best screwdrivers on the market.

back in the eightys my forman called them canadian head screws and until this post i never had a manufacturer or inventors name to put to these screws. ive found them used on some of the switchgear at tropicana. the #2 robertson is the most common one ive found in use
thanks for the info...

I've come across these Robertson-head screws before- in fact, someone used them to anchor a handy box in my basement which I needed to replace. Never knew until now that they had a Canadian origin; this might explain why they were used since I live about five miles south of the border. I agree with the other comments- they are indeed a GREAT screw-head type to use unless you actually need the "cam-out" feature of the Phillips head.

Yes, I remember them being around. Does anyone still make them?

I just had a look at some online vendors and Stanley amongst others are selling combination Pozi/Supadriv screw drivers although I can't see any vendors in the UK for the screws, possibly gone the way of Betamax vcr's

There is actually an R0 too

They often are colour coded:
R0 Yellow
R1 Green
R2 Red
R3 Black

They are often used for furniture assembly in Canadian factories.

I use them to attach things to wood, although I use drywall screws often to (with a #2 phillips bit, which is almost always in my screw-gun)

Canadian made appliances also use R2 screws to hold themselves together.

Most electrical devices (Switches and recepticles), us R1, larger stuff R2, and the screws I use to attach electrical boxes use R2 screws.