SCREWBOLT INVENTOR CHARLES TAKES A ROYAL BOW
This is the crowning moment in the life of businessman Charles Bickford –meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
For Charles, 73, from Benfleet, Essex the occasion became one of the highlights of his life as he received Her Majesty’s congratulations for winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation section. He and his family were guests at a special reception at Buckingham Palace for this year’s Queen’s Awards’ winners – the equivalent of the Oscars for inspirational companies throughout Britain.
Charles, the Managing Director of Excalibur Screwbolts – based at Hockley in Essex – who attended with his wife Margaret, said: “It was a great occasion but you don’t get much time with Her Majesty. She offered her congratulations and it was a great honour to meet her – a real one-off occasion that cannot be beaten.
“It was a great day for not only myself but also for my family and the staff at Excalibur Screwbolts who have worked so hard for the company. This is an award for them as well as myself.”
In 1986 Charles began perfecting his invention – the revolutionary Screwbolt which has brought huge improvements to the fixings industry within the construction, scaffolding, railway maintenance and security sectors. It has been used in building projects throughout the world including major sports stadia and the Channel Tunnel rail link.
Whereas traditional methods required throughbolts, expansion anchors, sleeves and resins to anchor into materials such as concrete, Charles’ Screwbolt design uses a twin-helix thread on the same lines as a drill bit. This means the Screwbolt creates its own thread as it tightens under torque for a more effective fixing than had previously been possible.
Following the success of the original Screwbolt, Excalibur has gone from strength to strength in developing a range of products based on the same twin-helix thread principle which provide secure and reliable results without the need for specialist tools. The Excalibur range has grown to include Stud Anchors, Rail Bolts and the Hammer Nail plus the latest addition to the range, the triple-thread Screwbolt for softer substrates.
Charles added: “Having spent my working life in the construction industry I saw the problems caused by the lack of reliable fixings and the problems it caused. I had the seed of an idea for the solution which was the Screwbolt with the twin-helix thread. That was a success and has now led to Royal recognition.”
His presentation to the Queen was not Charles’ first visit within the walls of Buckingham Palace – but the last time it was purely professional. Ironically in 1990 the first time the original Screwbolt was put to commercial use was to secure the roof of a stable block being repaired at Buckingham Palace. The Screwbolts remain in place today.
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