Bill L Seifert

I am hoping there is a deep, awful corner in Hell for certain Evil people. Am I talking about Osama, Saddam, or Adolf? NOoooooo!!!!! I am talking about the thee evilest people I know of. Mr Phillips, the inventor of the Phillips Screwdriver, Mr. Dzus, the inventer of the Dzus Fastener. I think Mr Phillips will spend eternity lying on his back, reaching up into a car 8 inches off the ground trying to take off a rounded head phillips screw, just about 1/2 inch outside his reach. Mr Dzus will be on a flight-line trying to pre-flight an aircraft in sub-zero temperature, with freezing rain, and he will have to replace a panel, that is held on with bent Dzus fasteners, with no gloves on before he can come inside to burn in Hell.

But the worst evil dooer of all is the scum that invented the styrofoam peanut. Last night I was removing the engine from my race 944, and as any of you that have done it the motor comes out the bottom. Because you have to slide the engine out from under the car, I looked for a scrap piece of carpet. Then i remembered, a trade item I had received in a large cardboard box. I asked a friend to remove the item and bring the box to me, to set the engine on to slide it from under the car. He looked inside and asked what to do with all the small things inside the box with the item. Thinking he was talking about the screws, and such to assemble the item, I said just dump them on the floor. He dumped 2 count them 2 - 55 gallon garbage bags of styrofoam peanuts on my garage floor. It took me over 2 hours to clean them up, you can only pick up 8-10 at a time, and they will clog a vacuum cleaner.

I am not mad at the man that shipped me the item, he didn't want to see it broken. It is the slimebag, idiot that invented them that I hate. Someone help me think of the way he can spend eternity.

Bill Seifert

1983 944 Race Car

Carrera GT

you need a shop-vac to pick up peanuts (real or styrofoam)

I like Dzus fasteners ... as long as I'm the only one that touches them on my bike ...

The Philips head is a great, great solution for _driving one time screws_ into wood or light sheet metal etc. The idea of using a Philips head for something that will be removed and replaced as part of periodic service is ludicrous to the point of absurdity. There's no reason to ever make another Philips head screw of any type other than for some obscure cosmetic or historical spare part need. One day, I'd love to disassemble my car and completely rebuild it with one type of universal fastener with the very minimum number of sizes and all of one type -- probably reverse Torx.

Chris Prack

Picking up styrofoam peanuts of course.

M758

944TURBOS

HAHAHAHAHA!! that was one of the more entertaining posts I have read in a long long time! Sorry to hear about the experience!

Bill L Seifert

That was a Craftsman Shop Vac, I clogged, and had to use a coat hanger to unclog. The darn things are too big, to go through the hose. You can pick up a few, but big amounts of them clog even a shop vac.

Bill

Mark in Baltimore

Is Hitler's pineapple therapy too harsh?

Mike A.

What punishment should the guy that dumped the two 55 gallon trash bags full of styrofoam peanuts receive?

DGaunt

It's an interesting story how the Phillips screw became dominant in America. It's Henry ford's fault!

PL Robertson, A canadian inventor, created a tapered square drive screw which today bears his name. His product became well established in canada, and Robertson went to dearborn to show it to Ford, who was then screwing his wooden framed cars together with slot screws. Robertson proved he could literally cut hours off the assembly time of a car with his screw, and Ford agreed.

ford had a well-known desire to control every aspect of his manufacturing operations, so much so, he built his own smelter to make steel and his own foundry too. He wanted to buy Robertson's design, but robertson was only willing to licence it. robertson was very successful and was not going to give up his product to Ford.

Well, Henry knew he needed to improve on the fasteners he was using, and just then along came Mr. Phillips with his 'Star' screw. Unlike Robertson, Phillips was broke and only to happy to sell his patent, lock stock and barrel.

Thus, we, in north america have been cursed with the ePhillips screw, a clearly inferior concept that was available and cheap. Only recently have we progressed to allen and now Torx screws in our machinery.

So, blame Ford for his pig-headedness, or Phillips for being broke!

Red 944

Hahaha .. I can just picture the conversation.
"What should I do with the stuff in the box?"
"Dump it over in the corner"
"All of it?"
"Yup."
"Both Bags?"
"Yeah, quick .. I need the cardboard .. bring it over"

Mike in Chi

Plan A: Push broom andlarge box used as a large dustpan.

Empty the box into the original shipping box after you move the engine.

Plan B:Copy paper box and lid used as a scoop.

(Us 944 racers are slow, but inventive)