Part of a series on
Screw drive types
Screw Head - Slotted.svg Slot
Screw Head - Phillips.svg Phillips
PH
Screw Head - Pozidrive.svg Pozidriv (SupaDriv)
PZ
Screw Head - Frearson.svg Frearson
Screw Head - Square External.svg Square
Screw Head - Robertson.svg Robertson
Screw Head - Hex External.svg Hex
Screw Head - 12-Point external.svg 12-point flange
Screw Head - Hex Socket.svg Hex socket (Allen)
Screw Head - Hex Socket Tamperproof.svg Security hex socket (pin-in-hex-socket)
Screw Head - Torx.svg Torx
T & TX
Screw Head - Torx Tamperproof.svg Security Torx
TR
Screw Head - TA.svg TA
Screw Head - Tri-wing.svg Tri-Wing
Screw Head - Torq-set.svg Torq-set
Screw Head - Spanner.svg Spanner head
(pig nose)
TH
Screw Head - Clutch Type G.svg Clutch
A & G
Screw Head - One-way Clutch.svg One-way
Screw Head - Double Square.svg Double-square
Screw Head - Triple Square.svg Triple-square
XZN
Screw Head - Polydrive.svg Polydrive
Screw Head - Spline.svg Spline drive
Screw Head - Double Hex.svg Double hex
Screw Head - Bristol.svg Bristol
Pentalobular.svg Pentalobe
Phillips screw head

Henry F. Phillips (18901958), a U.S. businessman from Portland, Oregon, has the honor of having the Phillips-head screw and screwdriver named after him.

The importance of the crosshead screw design lies in its self-centering property, useful on automated production lines that use powered screwdrivers. Phillips' major contribution was in driving the crosshead concept forward to the point where it was adopted by screwmakers and automobile companies.

Although he received patents for the design in 1936 (US Patent #2,046,343, US Patents #2,046,837 to 2,046,840), it was so widely copied that by 1949 Phillips lost his patent.

The American Screw Company was responsible for devising a means of manufacturing the screw, and successfully patented and licensed their method; other screw makers of the 1930s dismissed the Phillips concept since it calls for a relatively complex recessed socket shape in the head of the screw — as distinct from the simple milled slot of a slotted type screw.

The Phillips Screw Company and the American Screw Company went on to devise the Pozidriv screw, which differs from the Phillips in that it is designed to accommodate greater torque than the Phillips.