Today’s post is inspired by a recent episode of Mike Rowe’s podcast, The Way I Heard It. If for some reason, you don’t know who Mike Rowe is, check his somewhat irreverant bio here.
The Way I Heard It is a series of short mysteries for the curious mind with a short attention span.
Episode 94 is titled On the Importance of Better Driving. Driving has several definitions and I’m guessing your first idea may differ from mine. To avoid any spoilers, I recommend you listen to the podcast first, before you read any further. Don’t worry – it won’t take long. The episodes are only about 10 minutes long.
(Note, I am unable to link directly to the specific episode so page down in the list of episodes to get to #94, published on March 13, 2018. Or search inside your favorite podcast player. Here’s a link to the episode on iHeart – Better Driving)
Or listen here.
I immediately thought of driving a car (a thought process reinforced by the intro segment of the episode and also the character named Henry who I thought was maybe Henry Ford) but there are other types of driving. (Dictionary.com offers 39 variations!)
- vehicular travel (out for a Sunday drive through the country)
- guiding the movement of an animal (driving the cattle across the prairie)
- a psychological urge for activity (a strong drive towards success)
- sending away (drive away those annoying flies)
- movement toward a goal (driving to the end zone)
- strong military offensive (Stalin wanted to drive back the invading German army)
- to be forced along (the strong wind drove the ship towards the rocky shore)
- in relation to golf (he drove the ball to the far end of the fairway)
- relaying power (a good screwdriver and muscle power are needed to drive the screw into the wood)
Needless to say, a screwdriver was not my first thought.
In fact, when the episode ended, my exact words were, “Wait, I don’t get it.” So I did what any confused person does these days and asked Google. “Who is Henry Phillips?”
It turns out he is the guy getting all the credit for inventing the Phillips-head screwdriver, a tool I have used many times. He wasn’t the original inventor – that was John Thompson – but Phillips was the guy with the drive and the influence to turn all those engineers’ No’s into Yes’s. And yes, he did also patent a few modifications to Thompson’s original design so it wasn’t just Thompson we should thank.
Why?
Obviously John’s idea was good – we use Phillips-head screws all the time now – but he met a lot of resistance from the engineers that said it couldn’t be done.
The shift to automated manufacturing in the 1920’s revealed the weakness of using the single-slot screwhead. The design of the recessed screw would allow the automatic screwdrivers to engage and self-correct. This saved time and reduced waste produced by errors with the single-slot (flathead) screws.
The engineers did not think the recessed slot could be stamped into the screwhead without compromising it. Their boss, convinced of the product by Phillips, thought otherwise and told them to figure it out or be fired. That motivation worked in 1934 and still works today in many cases!
So, now I know. And so do you! I feel a little bad for Thompson. It was his idea after all. But I guess a good idea will only get you so far. You also need good marketing skills, good persuasive arguments, and the ability to know when to find a partner or other resource to help you.
More Screw History
The 99% Invisible podcast is doing a series called “100 Objects” to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. In each episode, they use one object as a jumping off point to dive into some aspect of American history.
The second episode in the series is all about screws!
Here’s the episode description, straight from 99PI…
In this episode, Roman and historian Daniel Immerwahr tell the story of the screw and America’s fight to standardize it. In the early 20th century, nothing quite fit. Fire hoses didn’t connect to one another, football teams played with different footballs, and traffic lights meant different things in different states. Then, World War II exposed the deadly costs of incompatible machinery, so the US slowly imposed a single standard in production lines across the world: the 60-degree screw. The result was a hidden industrial empire, built with standards now so ubiquitous that we rarely notice them at all.
Go to the 99PI website to listen to the episode or view the transcript: The 60-Degree Screw
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Websites referenced in writing this post:
Mike Rowes’ website – where it all started for this post
Brief history of Phillips screwdriver on Wired.com (note- only 4 free articles per month so be careful if you’re a frequent free user about to go over quota)
Wikipedia page on Henry F Phillips
History of Phillips Screw Company
A little more background on the original inventor, John P. Thompson
A record of Thompson’s original patent (are you a tech person really interested in the patent details?)
A history of screws and screwdrivers
Why did we need a new type of screw?
How to make the word No plural (because sometimes you’re just not sure if the grammar and spelling are correct!)
