Tool in Focus: The Screwdriver

There’s something kinda primal about a screwdriver. But let’s not dwell on that. Instead, pay homage to a trusty tool that never fails to satisfy.

Put simply, a screwdriver is a tool for driving screws. A basic screwdriver has a handle and a shaft with a tip that goes into the screw head. A screwdriver is classified by what type of tip it has, the main players being slotted, cruciform, polygon, hexalobular and three-pointed. Some screwdrivers have interchangeable tips that fit into a socket on the end of the shaft.

History of the screwdriver

The screwdriver got off to an inconspicuous start; its entire early history (from the mid 15th century) is based on the evidence that there were screws, so there must have been something to tighten them up. But by the 1800s, screwdrivers were out and proud on the open market. The first incarnations had pear-shaped handles, which were ultimately replaced by ovoid or hexagonal shapes when people got fed up with them forever rolling off the workbench.
The cruciform screw head and accompanying ’driver was patented by businessman Henry F Phillips in 1934. He bought the design from someone else then improved it, licenced it to General Motors and lived happily ever after. 

Types of screwdriver

Aside from the beloved Phillips, common screwdrivers today include slotted, square recess, Pozidriv, Torx, hex, tri-Wing and spanner, and each is master of its own domain. Screwdriver sets are thus a popular choice for the jobbing tradie and you can buy collections of 50+ to make sure you have all your bases covered. Although the sure thing in screwdrivers is that the one you need is the one that’s in the other bag.

Sonic Screwdriver

A multifunctional tool used by Doctor Who, the ‘Sonic’ is second only to the Tardis in iconic DW status. With total power over sound waves, radiation, wavelengths, frequencies, signals and electro-magnetism, it can control technology from every time period. It can remotely take over almost any machinery and can open locks, detonate explosives, remotely activate electronics, override most systems, activate computers and cause things to burst into flames. Oh, and it can tighten and loosen screws. Amazing.

Skrewdriver the band

They started out as a punk rock band in the UK in the 1970s, turned skinhead soon after and evolved into the most prominent neo-Nazi rock band in the world… until the lead singer died in a car crash in 1993. Never heard of them? Well, don’t make a point of it. With a game plan to “assert the need for extremist political violence”, the real screwdriver must surely have a case for defamation.

Screwdriver the drink

Not many tools have a fancy drink named after them. In its simplest form it’s vodka and orange juice, but any mixologist worth his salt will add ice, a dash of fizzy orange, a slice of fresh orange and at least one umbrella. Currently enjoying something of a resurgence from its glory days of the 1980s, the name is attributed to the American oil workers in the Persian Gulf in the 1920s, who stirred their drinks with their screwdrivers. Someone pass that man a straw.