On Mon, 31 May 2004 19:43:05 GMT, Erik wrote:

||In article ,
|| (Rex B) wrote:
||
|| On Mon, 31 May 2004 08:41:06 +0100, "Leon Heller"
|| wrote:
||
|| ||"CWLee" wrote in message
|| ...
|| ||
|| || Can anyone here point me toward an authoritative history of
|| || hex head nuts and bolts? I see square nuts and bolts in old
|| || machinery and tools in museums, but I don't think I've seen
|| || a hex head nut or bolt in anything built before 1900. Does
|| || anyone know who invented/developed the hex head nuts and
|| || bolts? When, where, why, etc? Any info on this topic
|| || appreciated.
|| ||
|| ||Probably Sir Joseph Whitworth - he standardised the threads used in screws
|| ||and bolts in 1841 and must have standardised the heads as well. There was
a
|| ||TV program about him recently here in the UK.
||
|| And every kid who bought a ratty TR4 in the 1960's knows the name Whitwort,
|| although most thought his first name was "Goddam".
|| Texas Parts Guy
||
||You know Snap On still shows Whitworth 3/8" drive sockets and
||combination wrenches in their catalog! Just looked at their site to
||confirm.

Yep, and I saw them in a catalog recently, probably KD Tools
And I think I've seen reference to some current use in some unlikely assembly -
aerospace item?
Texas Parts Guy