Re:List of screw drives
by magduf on Tuesday May 08, 2018 @08:46AM
(#17020513)
No, they don't just seem to: Phillips was specifically designed to cam out. It was invented for this very purpose. When you're cursing with a Phillips screw that's stripped-out, you need to know that the fastener is doing exactly what it was designed to. The problem is people expecting these screws to be easily removable; that was never the intention. And the other problem is people using them for applications where they might want to remove them one day; that again is contrary to the design goal and intended use of the Phillips screw.
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The linked article says that there isn't a lot of evidence that was a deliberate design decision.
"There has long been a popular belief that this was actually a deliberate feature of the design, for the purpose of assembling aluminum aircraft without overtightening the fasteners. Extensive evidence is lacking for this specific narrative, and the feature is not mentioned in the original patents. However, a 1949 refinement to the original design described in US Patent #2,474,994 describes this feature."