I've been assembling a lot of things over the past few weeks , and that got me wondering.
IKEA did not invent the Allen key. Though today, it might feel that way. Canadian Peter L. Robertson first commercialized the square socket in 1908 . And in 1909, American Willian G. Allen patented the hex varietal .
Due to an increased interest in interchangeability, hex nuts and keys would go on to become the dominant mode of fastening after World World II. And in English-speaking countries, the name Allen has largely stuck.
They're cheap to make and you get built-in leverage with its longer arm.
IKEA first began using hex keys in the 1960s. Their philosophy was: "You do your part. We do our part. Together we save money." Meaning, you assemble the things yourself. Here's a set of assembly instructions from 1968:
Today, most of us probably take it for granted just how radical of an idea this was. IKEA had smartly figured out that flat packing furniture saved a ton of money for everyone. The challenge was that it then had to get everyone accustomed to putting together their own furniture.
But they more than did that. They arguably ushered in a revolution in furniture. And they did it on the backbone of a simple, yet revolutionary, device that, over a century later, most of us still call an Allen key.