Robertson screw, refused by Henry Ford, still holding Canada together
The square-socket Robertson screw, invented in Ontario in 1908, remains objectively superior to the Phillips head and almost completely absent from American hardware, in what trade historians describe as the continent's longest-running self-own.
The screw does not strip. It does not eject the driver into a thumb. It holds on the bit at any angle, allowing one-handed work, which is why Canadian contractors treat the red-handled Robertson driver as standard-issue equipment somewhere between a tool and a passport.
Henry Ford wanted exclusive rights. Robertson, having been burned by foreign licensing before, declined. Ford walked, the American market followed him, and the United States committed for the next century to a screw designed to slip on purpose.
Canada said nothing, which is how Canada wins arguments. Every deck north of the border that survives forty winters is the closing statement. The Phillips faction has yet to file a response that doesn't cam out halfway through.