On Fri, 14 Aug 2015 11:55:17 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 8/14/2015 11:36 AM, krw wrote:
On Fri, 14 Aug 2015 09:32:00 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 8/13/2015 8:03 PM, krw wrote:
On Thu, 13 Aug 2015 09:13:30 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 8/13/2015 8:05 AM, John McCoy wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/12/2015 4:33 PM, John McCoy wrote:

Not so long ago, it took work to
find a Torx or Robertson bit.

Where were you looking? Now I will admit that I have a pretty long
automotive back ground but I bought my first Torx screw driver in 1975.
They were pretty plentiful at all the auto supply stores.

Usual home handyman sort of places - Home Depot, Ace, Sears.
They were considered "specialty tools", like circlip pliers.
No surprise you could find them in an auto parts store, but
that's not the first place someone other than an auto
mechanic would have looked.

I'd guess they started showing up widely about 7-8 years
ago. (which would be about the same time it became normal
to find a driver bit in a box of screws).

John

I'm sure it is all relative. I saw wide spread Torx in the 80's. You
just had to realize what you were looking at in the assortment/array of
screw drivers, sockets, and hex style wrenches.

I remember them from the '70s. It had to be before '75 because we had
a '74 Rustang. The door striker was essentially a Torx-head bolt.


74? Wasn't that the Pintang? ;~)

That's the one. Little POS. ;-)

Funny how Ford and GM started upper end vehicles based on their entry
level vehicles. Pinto/Mustang II...... Vega/Monza/Starfire/Skylark, IIRC.

Not sure I understand you point, "started upper end vehicles"?

More expensive vehicles based on the entry level. I had both a Chevy
Vega and an Olds Starfire. The Starfire looked different from the Vega
and had one hell of a more reliable V6 engine but looked different in
many respects, but handles, knobs, steering wheel positions, pillars,
pedals were all exactly in the same place.

Except that the Rustang II wasn't expensive at all. It was rightfully
known as a Pinto in drag. There wasn't much of a cost premium for the
lace.


That is entirely possible/likely. IIRC GM adopted the Torx in 1975.
Seat belt bolts were also some heavy duty applications of the Torx
screw. And for what that is worth, they may have been around earlier
than 1975 for GM however not for replacing the Phillips style screw.
the big deal back then was the better screw to replace the applications
that used Phillips screws.

I thought the original reason for the Torx head was robotic insertion.
It was easier for the tool to hold the fastener.

That could be true, either way the Torx was/are better and easier to use
than the Phillips head screws regardless of the user, robot or man.