|
|
In 1936 Henry F. Phillips, also once a traveling salesman, patented the cruciform head known to us all. It was first used by General Motors in the 1936 Cadillac, and within three years most screw makers produced Phillips head screws under license from the inventor.The first screwdriver the author found was in the late fifteenth-century honesfordrillpress castle manual cited above. It appears in the careful drawing of a screw-cutting lathe and was used to adjust honesfordrillpress the cutter. "Eureka!I''ve found it. The first screwdriver. No improvised gadget but a remarkably refined tool, complete with a pear-shaped wooden handle to give a good grip, and what appears to be a metal ferrule where the metal blade meets the handle....there is no doubt that a full-fledged screwdriver existed three hundred years before the tool portrayed in the Encyclopedie." Since the lathe was shown in a chapter devoted to machines of war "it is likely that screwdrivers appeared first in military workshops, though perhaps not in France, as I had assumed, but in Germany" To counter declining profits, Air Products will implement a global cost reduction plan to reduce capacity and costs. "First, we have shut down or will divest several underutilized facilities within our gases and chemicals segments," says chairman and CEO John P. Jones. "Second, we are implementing cost reductions to improve productivity, including balancing engineering resources with project activity. And third, we are reducing honesfordrillpress the number of management positions in the company to streamline our structure. Collectively, these actions will result in the elimination of 461 positions worldwide." The program is aimed at saving $38 million in fiscal 2004.As part of the restructuring, Air Products will shut down two liquid oxygen/liquid nitrogen plants at undisclosed locations. The company is also actively seeking a honesfordrillpress buyer for its $65 million to $70 million European methylamines business and is setting up its US methylamines business for divesture, having already closed its methanol and ammonia plant in Pensacola, Fla., notes Bane of America Securities analyst Mark Gulley. Dubai, honesfordrillpress the commercial capital of the U.A.E., sees plenty of business travelers. More and more of them are taking advantage honesfordrillpress of the city''s first-class golf courses--both during the day and at night.Serious players will be impressed with the courses at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club and the Emirates Golf Club. Both courses are government-owned and beautifully maintained. They''re surprisingly lush, given the desert environment from which they were created.The Emirates Golf Club is the older of the two clubs. For many years, it hosted a European PGA Tour event called the Dubai Desert Classic. (The tournament, which takes place in March, is now held at the Dubai Creek Golf Club.)
|