I think it was out there, by the 90s, but harder to procure. Supply houses probably had it, but consumer-based outlets didn't. Kind of like the Electrical Combination Screwdrivers. The manufacturers started using the electrical combination screw heads, (a combination of the Canadian Roberts Square Drive, and an American flat blade) almost three decades ago. But it was only recently that anyone thought to produce screw drivers that match the screw heads. And I still run into journeyman electricians who don't know what the combination head is, or that there are special drivers for it.