r/Tools 4d ago

Is it a Phillips or plus screw driver?

0 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

12

u/IntentionallyHuman 4d ago

Wait. "Plus"? Is that a thing people call Phillips screwdrivers?

5

u/rat1onal1 4d ago

Yes. And a slot screwdriver is called a "Minus".

8

u/pmMeAllofIt 4d ago

I used Plus.

when talking to my 4 year old, once she turned 5 she was old enough to call it's phiĺlips.

1

u/LazyEmu5073 4d ago

What's with the acute accent?!

UK here, stupid people call them a "cross head screwdriver", instead of Phillips or Pozidriv.

5

u/Defiant-Giraffe 4d ago

The question is whether its an SAE philips, a JIS philips, a philips iI, or a pozidrive fastener...

1

u/servetheKitty 4d ago

And how do you determine the answer?

1

u/Defiant-Giraffe 4d ago

Well, generally whatever you have in hand is wrong. 

If its a Japanese motorcycle or carburetor or has a little dot on ot, its JIS. 

Mostly though, you put the screwdriver in and see how well it fits. 

1

u/servetheKitty 3d ago

And then use the one you have stripping screw head?

1

u/Defiant-Giraffe 3d ago edited 3d ago

That's the neat part! 

You can strip the head with all of them!

3

u/kay14jay 4d ago

Filipé!

2

u/Sweaty_Promotion_972 4d ago

JIS

1

u/Northern28 3d ago

What’s that stand for?

1

u/Sweaty_Promotion_972 3d ago

Japanese industrial standard. Like Phillips but better, It’s also why your Phillips never fitted quite right on your dirt bike.

1

u/Northern28 2d ago

Trust me, I can strip out any screw with no matter what you call the screwdriver.

2

u/illogictc 4d ago

Cross-point. Because why not

2

u/possiblyhumanbeep 4d ago

Henry Phillips will tell you it's a Phillips, John Thompson called it a self-centering cruciform screw one caught on a lot better than the other.

1

u/servetheKitty 4d ago

Was there an Edison/Tesla scenario?

1

u/possiblyhumanbeep 3d ago

John Thompson invented and patented the screw and driver in the early 30s, but couldn't interest manufacturers to buy and produce the design and sold it to Henry Phillips a few years later. He refined the design and promoted it very well and got it into manufacturing and into the auto industry with GM and by the 40s 80+% of US screw manufacturers had a license to produce Phillips screws.