Needs an Ikea tag
02/01/2017, 16:06
The Swedish company "Ikea" is a major furniture chain, known for it's massive, maze-like showrooms. However the furniture they actually sell you tends to come in a box, requiring the customer to assemble it themselves, with the provided disposable Allen Key (what's sticking out of the blue "knife" there) to turn the hexagon-headed screws.
Hex-screws/bolts were not in wide usage anywhere else in the NW hemisphere, so they became known as something unique to the Ikea company. Currently however, hex-bolts are widely used in medical equipment like power wheelchairs for the disabled. The idea being, since almost no one HAS a hexagon-shaped screwdriver at home in their toolboxes, if grandpa in his wheelchair wants his headrest adjusted more comfortably, he has to fork over $65 for a "licensed technician" to come over and do it. >.
Hex-screws/bolts were not in wide usage anywhere else in the NW hemisphere, so they became known as something unique to the Ikea company. Currently however, hex-bolts are widely used in medical equipment like power wheelchairs for the disabled. The idea being, since almost no one HAS a hexagon-shaped screwdriver at home in their toolboxes, if grandpa in his wheelchair wants his headrest adjusted more comfortably, he has to fork over $65 for a "licensed technician" to come over and do it. >.
(Hmm... my scowly-face emote cut off the rest of what I wrote)
More recently, Walmart now sells a multi-size hex-key tool, at a very affordable $8-9, so if you have a chair-bound person around you, it's probably worth putting in your toolbox.
(Does it undermine the cartoon that a real "Swedish army knife" already exists?)
More recently, Walmart now sells a multi-size hex-key tool, at a very affordable $8-9, so if you have a chair-bound person around you, it's probably worth putting in your toolbox.
(Does it undermine the cartoon that a real "Swedish army knife" already exists?)
Please log in to leave a comment
