Adjustable spanner

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From the bottom: The first BAHCO-improvement adjustable wrench from 1892 (Enkoping Mekaniska Verkstad) Adjustable wrench from 1910 with an improved handle (BAHCO) Adjustable wrench from 1915 with a slightly rounder handle (BAHCO) Adjustable wrench from 1954 with improved handle and new jaw angle of 15 degrees (BAHCO) Adjustable wrench from 1984 and the first with ERGO handle (BAHCO) Today's version of the adjustable wrench from 1992 with ERGO (BAHCO) Adjustablewrenches.jpg
From the bottom:
  1. The first BAHCO-improvement adjustable wrench from 1892 (Enköping Mekaniska Verkstad)
  2. Adjustable wrench from 1910 with an improved handle (BAHCO)
  3. Adjustable wrench from 1915 with a slightly rounder handle (BAHCO)
  4. Adjustable wrench from 1954 with improved handle and new jaw angle of 15 degrees (BAHCO)
  5. Adjustable wrench from 1984 and the first with ERGO handle (BAHCO)
  6. Today's version of the adjustable wrench from 1992 with ERGO (BAHCO)

An adjustable spanner (UK and most other English-speaking countries), shifting spanner (Australia and New Zealand) [1] or adjustable wrench (US and Canada) is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head (nut, bolt, etc.) rather than just one fastener size, as with a conventional fixed spanner. [2]

Contents

Forms and names

There are many forms of adjustable spanners; many of them are screw-adjusted, whereas others use levers, and some early ones used wedges. The early taper-locking spanners needed a hammer to set the movable jaw to the size of the nut. The modern screw-adjusted spanner and lever types are easily and quickly adjusted. Some adjustable spanners automatically adjust to the size of the nut, using a motor and battery. Simpler models use a serrated edge to lock the movable jaw to size, while more sophisticated versions are digital types that use sheets or feelers to set the size.

Geesin (2015) [3] shows that wrenches with screw adjustment of various kinds were well known in the early 19th century and that one by William Barlow in 1808 was prescient. [3] By the 1830s, many designs with a central screw and a lower jaw moved by a nut were well known. [3] Geesin [3] and others [4] [5] [6] document that English engineers Richard Clyburn and Edwin Beard Budding presented some influential new designs in 1842 and 1843. The one by Clyburn had the form of thumbwheel screw with worm-on-rack arrangement that would later be the most famous via subsequent adaptations. Improvements followed. In 1885 Enoch Harris received US patent 326868 [7] for his spanner that permitted both the jaw width and the angle of the handles to be adjusted and locked.

One of the most widely known forms of adjustable wrench in the 21st century is an improved version of the Clyburn type; it was developed in 1891–1892. The Swedish company Bahco attributes its invention to Johan Petter Johansson, [8] [9] who in 1892 received a Swedish patent for it. [10] [11] In Canada and the United States, this type is often known as a Crescent wrench owing to widespread genericization of the brand name [12] of the company that held the original 1915 U.S. patent for this type ( U.S. Patent 1133236A ), the Crescent Tool Company. (The Crescent brand is now owned by the Apex Tool Group). As Geesin 2015 documents, [3] the worm-on-rack type (regardless of which terminology is used to name it) was invented in Britain, [3] and later popularized in Scandinavia via the Bahco/Johansson improvement, before its manufacture in the United States was patented. The Bahco/Johansson/Crescent category (regardless of which terminology is used to name it) became so dominant in the 20th century that in North America, the very term adjustable wrench usually elicits the meaning of this type in general usage today, unless another type is specified. In Australia it is sometimes referred to as a "shifting spanner" or its abbreviated form of "shifter". [13]

Monkey wrenches are another type of adjustable spanner with a long history; the origin of the name is not entirely clear, but Geesin reports that it originated in Britain with a fancied resemblance of the wrench's jaws to that of a monkey's face, and that the many convoluted folk etymologies that later developed were baseless. [3] Before the Bahco/Johansson/Crescent type became widespread in the United States, during the industrial era of the 1860s to the 1910s, various monkey wrench types were the dominant form of adjustable wrench there.

Another popular type of adjustable spanner has a base and jaws that form four sides of a hexagon, and is therefore particularly suited for hexagonal nuts ("hex nuts") and hexagonal headed ("hex head") cap screws and bolts.

In some parts of Europe, adjustable spanners are often called a Bahco, [9] [14] owing to genericization of the name of the Bahco/Johansson type. In Denmark, this type of spanner is commonly referred to as a "svensknøgle", which basically translates to Swedish key. The Swedes themselves call the key "skiftnyckel", which is translated into adjustable key (shifting key). [15] In Australia, adjustable spanners are also referred to as "shifters". In Spain, this kind of spanner is commonly called "llave inglesa", which means literally English key. Remarking the difference with the pipe wrench, also adjustable, in Spain this one is called "grifa", and it does not have any accurate translation. [13]

Design and use

The fixed jaw can withstand bending stress far better than can the movable jaw, because the latter is supported only by the flat surfaces on either side of the guide slot, not the full thickness of the tool. The tool is therefore usually angled so that the movable jaw's area of contact is closer to the body of the tool, which means less bending stress. Still, one should avoid applying excessive force on tight bolts, since doing so can pry open the mounting of the movable jaw causing the wrench to no longer be able to be snugged to bolt heads, loosen too easily, or mar bolt heads. In some cases the jaws of the tool can break.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkey wrench</span> Type of adjustable wrench

A monkey wrench is a type of smooth-jawed adjustable wrench, a 19th century American refinement of 18th-century English coach wrenches. It was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century. It is of interest as an antique among tool collectors and is still occasionally used in practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pliers</span> Hand tool

Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist of a pair of metal first-class levers joined at a fulcrum positioned closer to one end of the levers, creating short jaws on one side of the fulcrum, and longer handles on the other side. This arrangement creates a mechanical advantage, allowing the force of the grip strength to be amplified and focused on an object with precision. The jaws can also be used to manipulate objects too small or unwieldy to be manipulated with the fingers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Petter Johansson</span>

Johan Petter Johansson, sometimes known as JP, was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. He invented a modern adjustable spanner. He obtained over 100 patents in total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pipe wrench</span> A wrench for assembling and disassembling piping made of threaded pipes

A pipe wrench is any of several types of wrench that are designed to turn threaded pipe and pipe fittings for assembly (tightening) or disassembly (loosening). The Stillson wrench, or Stillson-pattern wrench, is the usual form of pipe wrench, especially in the US. The Stillson name is that of the original patent holder, who licensed the design to a number of manufacturers; the patent has since expired decades ago. A different type of wrench with compound leverage often used on pipes, the plumber wrench, is also called a "pipe wrench" in some places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socket wrench</span> Lever with interchangeable socket heads to grip or turn a bolt or nut

A socket wrench is a type of spanner that uses a closed socket format, rather than a typical open wrench/spanner to turn a fastener, typically in the form of a nut or bolt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck (engineering)</span> Clamp used to hold an object with radial symmetry, especially a cylinder

A chuck is a specialized type of clamp used to hold an object with radial symmetry, especially a cylinder. In a drill, a mill and a transmission, a chuck holds the rotating tool; in a lathe, it holds the rotating workpiece.

British Standard Whitworth (BSW) is an imperial-unit-based screw thread standard, devised and specified by Joseph Whitworth in 1841 and later adopted as a British Standard. It was the world's first national screw thread standard, and is the basis for many other standards, such as BSF, BSP, BSCon, and BSCopper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vise</span> Apparatus for securing a workpiece

A vise or vice is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plumber wrench</span>

A plumber wrench is a form of plier described as a pipe wrench that uses compound leverage to grip and rotate plumbing pipes. Similar to the action of a Vise Grip plier, its jaw opening is adjusted to width by rotating a threaded ring. Its advantage is that it grips with significant force without needing to engage a lock nut like an adjustable tongue-and-groove plier. Like these, it can also be used on nuts, particularly hex shaped, and other flat engagement points. If used carelessly it can dent or break plumbing pipe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locking pliers</span> Clamping hand tool

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screw</span> Type of fastener characterized by a thread wrapped around a cylinder core

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nut (hardware)</span> Type of fastener with a threaded hole

A nut is a type of fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used in conjunction with a mating bolt to fasten multiple parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretching of the bolt, and compression of the parts to be held together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongue-and-groove pliers</span> Adjustable clamping hand tool

Tongue-and-groove pliers are a type of slip-joint pliers. They are also known as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bahco</span> Swedish tool brand

Bahco is a Swedish brand within the hand tool industry, which is now part of SNA Europe, part of Snap-on. Its roots go back to the industrial revolution in Sweden in the late eighteen hundreds, starting with innovations such as the pipe wrench and the modern adjustable wrench. Since then, the product range has expanded with a total assortment of products that today includes over 7000 hand tools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolt (fastener)</span> Threaded fastener with an external male thread requiring a matching female thread

A bolt is a form of threaded fastener with an external male thread requiring a matching pre-formed female thread such as a nut. Bolts are very closely related to screws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen (brand)</span> Company behind the name "Allen wrenches"

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hex key</span> Driver for hexagonal socketed bolts or screws

A hex key is a simple driver for bolts or screws that have heads with internal hexagonal recesses (sockets).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrench size</span>

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References

  1. ↑ The Free Dictionary. "shifting spanner". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  2. ↑ FCS Engineering Technology L2. Pearson South Africa. 2009. pp. 161–. ISBN   978-1-77025-592-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Geesin, Ron (2015), The Adjustable Spanner: History, Origins and Development to 1970, Crowood Press, ISBN   9781785000362.
  4. ↑ Murray, John (1845). The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. pp.  388–.
  5. ↑ John Lloyd; John Mitchinson; James Harkin (30 October 2012). 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. Faber & Faber. pp. 44–. ISBN   978-0-571-29795-5.
  6. ↑ Lance Day; Ian McNeil (11 September 2002). Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. Routledge. pp. 206–. ISBN   978-1-134-65019-4.
  7. ↑ U.S. Patent 326,868
  8. ↑ "About Us | BAHCO". www.bahco.com. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  9. 1 2 Swedish Bahco leaflet about the development history of adjustable spanners (including photos) Archived October 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Johansson, Johan Petter (May 11, 1892). "SE Patent: SE-4,066 Stallbar skrufnyckel". Directory of American Tool and Machinery Patents.
  11. ↑ Andreas Bergh (31 July 2014). Sweden and the Revival of the Capitalist Welfare State. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 11–. ISBN   978-1-78347-350-2.
  12. ↑ "Has crescent wrench become a generic trademark?". genericides.org. 12 January 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  13. 1 2 "shifting spanner". CollinsDictionary.com . HarperCollins.
  14. ↑ "Has bahco become a generic trademark?". genericides.org. 12 January 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  15. ↑ Basic Swedish: A Grammar and Workbook ISBN   1-351-16966-1 p. 177
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