desk |
pliers |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): wood build wall design structure size light surface type frame |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): shoe form design material jewellery metal ancient hand piece history |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): material paint construction window floor tree door plastic roof concrete |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): tea tooth pearl kite culture wear century tattoo foot time |
times more probable under desk 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under pliers (words not in the model) | |
A desk'" is a furniture form and a class of table often used in a work or office setting for reading or writing on or using a computer. Desks often have one or more drawers to store office supplies and papers. Unlike a regular table, usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit on (though there are some unusual exceptions, such as a partners desk). Not all desks have the form of a table. For instance, an Armoire desk is a desk built within a large wardrobe-like cabinet, and a portable desk is light enough to be placed on a person's lap. Early desks. Desk-style furniture appears not to have been used in classical antiquity or in other ancient centers of civilization in the Middle East or Far East, but there is no specific proof. Medieval illustrations show the first pieces of furniture which seem to have been designed and constructed for reading and writing. Before the invention of the movable type printing press in the 15th century, any reader was potentially a writer or publisher or both, since any book or other document had to be copied by hand. The desks were designed with slots and hooks for bookmarks and for writing implements. Since manuscript volumes were sometimes large, and heavy, desks of the period usually had massive structures. Desks of the Renaissance and later eras had relatively slimmer structures, and more and more drawers as woodworking became more precise and cabinet-making became a distinct trade. It is often possible to find out if a table or other piece of furniture of those times was designed to be used as a desk by looking for a drawer with three small separations (one each for the ink pot, the blotter and the powder tray) and room for the pens. The desk forms we are familiar with in this beginning of the millennium were born mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The ergonomic desk of the last decades is the newest addition to a long list of desk forms, but in a way it is only a refinement of the mechanically complex drawing table or drafting table of the end of the 18th | History. Pliers in the general sense are an ancient and simple invention, no singular point in history or singular inventor can be credited. Early metal working processes from several millennia BC would have required plier-like devices to handle hot materials in the process of smithing or casting. Development from wooden to bronze pliers would have probably happened sometime prior to 3000 BC. Among the oldest illustrations of pliers are those showing the Greek god Hephaestus in his smithy. Today, pliers intended principally to be used for safely handling hot objects are usually called tongs. The number of different designs of pliers grew with the invention of the different objects which they were used to handle: horse shoes, fasteners, wire, pipes, electrical and electronic components. Design. The basic design of pliers has changed little since their origins, with the pair of "handles", the "pivot" (often formed by a rivet), and the "head" section with the gripping jaws or cutting edges forming the three elements. In distinction to a pair of scissors or shears, the plier's jaws always meet each other at one pivot angle. Pliers are an instrument that convert a power grip—the curling of the fingers into the palm of the hand—into a precision grip, directing the power of the hand's grip in a precise fashion on to the objects to be gripped. The handles are long relative to the shorter nose of the pliers. The two arms thus act as first class levers with a mechanical advantage, increasing the force applied by the hand's grip and concentrating it on the work piece. The materials used to make pliers consist mainly of steel alloys with additives such as vanadium or chromium, to improve alloy strength and prevent corrosion. Often pliers have insulated grips to ensure better handling and prevent electrical conductivity. In some lines of fine work (such as jewellery or musical instrument repair), some specialised pliers feature a layer of comparatively soft metal (such as brass) over the two plates of the head of the pliers to reduce pressure placed on some fine tools or materials. Making entire pliers out of softer metals would be impractical, reducing the strength required to break or bend them. |