1 year ago

Xcelite was the first company to make a plastic handle screwdriver, and also the first to coin the term "nut driver".
Their color coded nut drivers were frequently used by electronics technicians and hobbiests from the 1940's all the way to today.
An Xcelite screwdriver is believed to have been used by Louis Slotin in the 1946 "Demon Core" incident, at the Los Alamos testing lab.
In this video we go over the histroy of Xcelite.
From Park Metalware in the 1920's to "Xcelite by Weller" and present day.

Demon Core Incident:
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/demon-core-the-strange-death-of-louis-slotin

Park Metalware patents:
https://patents.google.com/?assignee=PARK+METALWARE+Co+Inc
https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Zilliox+John

1924 Wire Connector:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Lineman_s_Handbook/w4xRAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=park+metalware&pg=PA362&printsec=frontcover

1936 Catalog (screwdrivers):
https://archive.org/details/park-metalware-co-1936

1960 Catalog:
https://archive.org/details/XceliteCatalogNo160

1966 Catalog:
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_xcelite166_11888028

1982 Catalog:
https://archive.org/details/XceliteCooper1982

Los Alamos cover:
https://archive.org/details/los-alamos-project-y-book-viii-volume-2-technical-29-april-1947

00:00 Demon Core Incident
00:54 Park Metalware
01:44 The Nut Driver
02:22 Xcelite Innovations
03:40 The Cooper Era
04:02 The Apex Era
05:07 Outro
05:38 Moar Demon Core