The only reason Robertson isn’t everywhere is that it was patented and Robertson refused to license it, insisting that his company would be the only one to manufacture it.
Because of that, Henry Ford used those screws on the Canadian-made Model T cars, but not on the American made ones. The patent didn’t expire until 1964, so many other screw types that weren’t patented became popular in the mean time. But, the patent has now been expired for 60 years, so I think it’s ok to just call it “square” now.
We aren’t calling it a Robertson to honor a dead patent, it’s to show we know the origin as Canadian, and because that’s the name of the thing. Living next to the cultural blackhole of the USA means getting swallowed and erased if we don’t showcase and have pride in what is Canadian. So at least where Canadians are concerned it’s not a square.
The only reason Robertson isn’t everywhere is that it was patented and Robertson refused to license it, insisting that his company would be the only one to manufacture it.
Because of that, Henry Ford used those screws on the Canadian-made Model T cars, but not on the American made ones. The patent didn’t expire until 1964, so many other screw types that weren’t patented became popular in the mean time. But, the patent has now been expired for 60 years, so I think it’s ok to just call it “square” now.
We aren’t calling it a Robertson to honor a dead patent, it’s to show we know the origin as Canadian, and because that’s the name of the thing. Living next to the cultural blackhole of the USA means getting swallowed and erased if we don’t showcase and have pride in what is Canadian. So at least where Canadians are concerned it’s not a square.