How a Simple Screw Standard Helped the U.S. Shape Global Industry

In the early 1920s, the world faced significant chaos in standardization, with individual countries and even U.S. states implementing their own rules for common items. Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, championed the cause of standardization to boost efficiency and economic prosperity. He initiated efforts to standardize everything from cobblestones to glassware, aiming to simplify production and maintenance by reducing the variety of components. This initiative, driven by a belief in systematic organization, sought to ensure that parts like cobblestones would have readily available replacements.

Hoover's standardization efforts extended to numerous industries, including hospital linens, bed springs, brake linings, and tires. A particularly challenging and crucial area was the standardization of screw threads, which are fundamental to countless manufactured goods. The debate centered on the angle of the screw thread, with 55-degree and 60-degree standards being the primary contenders. Despite initial resistance from manufacturers unwilling to adopt another's standard, the U.S. successfully established a national 60-degree standard for screw threads by 1924.

This U.S.-centric standard, however, created compatibility issues globally as other nations used different standards, like the UK's 55-degree system. During World War II, this lack of standardization severely hampered Allied war efforts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous analogy of lending a garden hose to a neighbor highlighted the problem: if the hose (equipment) couldn't connect to the faucet (compatible parts), aid couldn't be effectively delivered. The U.S. spent $600 million during the war solely on sending extra screws, nuts, and pins to overcome these incompatibility issues, a sum equivalent to building approximately one thousand B-29 bombers. This immense cost prompted negotiations between the U.S. and the UK, marking a significant shift in global industrial influence.