Battle of The Screws

Salam. Have you ever wondered "What's up with these Phillips screws and straight-bladed screws? Why don't we use the same type of screw?" As most of us knew, the straight-bladed screws and screwdrivers were long created before the creation of Phillips screws and screwdrivers. Therefore why should those people in the past invented the Phillips if we can use the straight-bladed ones as it serves the same purpose - equally effective in tightening hardware components?

Some people believed a theory that the manufacturer of the Phillips screws and screwdrivers were playing a mean character in overtaking the old hardware business (straight-bladed screws manufacturers) by introducing a new design (sense of fashion in screws?) to the hardware.

Well, the theory of overtaking business maybe applicable in this case, however it was not the main reason why the Phillips were introduced to us. It is because of the safety feature that it has to offer. In the past, there were complaints that the straight-bladed screws sometime tend to cause damage to the hardware, furniture and even injured the workers. How did these happen? As we all knew, the straight-bladed screws have slots at the center which we inserted the screwdrivers into to tighten the screw. Occasionally, the screwdrivers tend to slip and cause these damages and therefore, the Phillips screws were introduced to let the screwdrivers fit tightly and avoid the chances of being slipping onto hardwares, furnitures and hands.


All in all, we got to use both type of screws until nowadays and it is up to us to choose any type that we prefer. The main concern is we have to be careful. (And the Phillips really are fancy though ;))