hammer |
screwdriver |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): head design hand time size steel common form cut model |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): blade design steel type head century shape handle size form |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): state key lock switch cross machine type needle plate century |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): iron cut tea city metal material key switch tooth hair |
times more probable under hammer 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under screwdriver (words not in the model) | |
A hammer'" is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. Usual features are a handle and a head, with most of the weight in the head. The basic design is hand-operated, but there are also many mechanically operated models for heavier uses. The hammer is a basic tool of many professions, and can also be used as a weapon. By analogy, the name "'hammer'" has also been used for devices that are designed to deliver blows, e.g. in the caplock mechanism of firearms. History. The use of simple tools dates to about 2,400,000 BCE when various shaped stones were used to strike wood, bone, or other stones to break them apart and shape them. Stones attached to sticks with strips of leather or animal sinew were being used as hammers by about 30,000 BCE during the middle of the Paleolithic Stone Age. Its archeological record means it is perhaps the oldest human tool known. Designs and variations. The essential part of a hammer is the head, a compact solid mass that is able to deliver the blow to the intended target without itself deforming. The opposite side of a ball as in the ball-peen hammer and the cow hammer. Some upholstery hammers have a magnetized appendage, to pick up tacks. In the hatchet the hammer head is secondary to the cutting edge of the tool. In recent years the handles have been made of durable plastic or rubber. The hammer varies at the top, some are larger than others giving a larger surface area to hit different sized nails and such, Mechanically-powered hammers often look quite different from the hand tools, but nevertheless most of them work on the same principle. They include: In professional framing carpentry, the hammer has almost been completely replaced by the nail gun. In professional upholstery, its chief competitor is the staple gun. Hammer as a force amplifier. A hammer is basically a force amplifier that works by converting mechanical work into kinetic energy and back. In the swing that precedes each blow, a certain amount of kinetic energy gets stored in the hammer's head, equal to the length "D" of the swing times the force "f" produced by the muscles of the arm and by gravity. When the hammer strikes, the head gets stopped by an opposite force coming from the target; which is equal and opposite to the force applied by the head to the target. If the target is a hard and heavy object, or if it is resting on some sort of anvil, the head can travel only a very short distance "d" before stopping. Since the stopping force "F" times that distance must be equal to the head's kinetic energy, it follows that "F" will be much greater than the original driving force "f" — roughly, by a factor "D" "d". In this way, great strength is not needed to produce a force strong enough to bend steel, or crack the hardest stone. Effect of the head's mass. The amount of energy delivered to the target by the hammer-blow is equivalent to one half the mass of the head times the square of the head's speed at the time of impact ([Formula 1]). While the energy delivered to the target increases linearly with mass, it increases geometrically with the speed (see the effect of the handle, below). High tech titanium heads are lighter and allow for longer handles, thus increasing velocity and delivering more energy with less arm fatigue than that of a steel head hammer of the same weight. As hammers must be used in many circumstances, where the position of the person using them cannot be taken for granted, trade-offs are made for the sake of practicality. In areas where one has plenty of room, a long handle with a heavy head (like a sledge hammer) can deliver the maximum amount of energy to the target. But clearly, it's unreasonable to use a sledge hammer to drive upholstery tacks. Thus, the overall design has been modified repeatedly to achieve the optimum utility in a wide variety of situations. Effect of the handle. The handle of the hammer helps in several ways. It keeps the user's hands away from the point of impact. It provides a broad area that is better-suited for gripping by the hand. Most importantly, it allows the user to maximize the speed of the head on each blow. The primary constraint on additional handle length is the lack of space in which to swing the hammer. This is why sledge hammers, largely used in open spaces, can have handles that are much longer than a standard carpenter's hammer. The second most important constraint is more subtle. Even without considering the effects of fatigue, the longer the handle, the harder it is to guide the head of the hammer to its target at full speed. Most designs are a compromise between practicality and energy efficiency. Too long a handle: the hammer is inefficient because it delivers force to the wrong place, off-target. Too short a handle: the hammer is inefficient because it doesn't deliver enough force, requiring more blows to complete a given task. Recently, modifications have also been made with respect to the effect of the hammer on the user. A titanium head has about 3% recoil and can result in greater efficiency and less fatigue when compared to a steel head with about 27% recoil. Handles made of shock-absorbing materials or varying angles attempt to make it easier for the user to continue to wield this age-old device, even as nail guns and other powered drivers encroach on its traditional field of use. War hammers. The concept of putting a handle on a weight to make it more convenient to use may well have led to the very first weapons ever invented. The club is basically a variant of a hammer. In the Middle Ages, the war hammer became popular when edged weapons could no longer easily penetrate some forms of armour. Symbolic hammers. The hammer, being one of the most used tools by "Homo sapiens", has been used very much in symbols and arms. In the Middle Ages it was | The screwdriver'" is a device specifically designed to insert and tighten, or to loosen and remove, screws. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver. A typical hand screwdriver comprises an approximately cylindrical handle of a size and shape to be held by a human hand, and an axial shaft fixed to the handle, the tip of which is shaped to fit a particular type of screw. The handle and shaft allow the screwdriver to be positioned and supported and, when rotated, to apply torque. Screwdrivers are made in a variety of shapes, and the tip can be rotated manually or by an electric or other motor. A screw has a head with a contour such that an appropriate screwdriver tip can be engaged in it in such a way that the application of sufficient torque to the screwdriver will cause the screw to rotate. History. Gunsmiths still refer to a screwdriver as a "turnscrew", under which name it is an important part of a set of pistols. The name was common in earlier centuries, used by cabinet makers and shipwrights and perhaps other trades. The Cabinet-Maker's screwdriver is one of the longest-established handle forms, somewhat oval or elipsoid in cross section. This is variously attributed to improving grip or preventing the tool rolling off the bench, but there is no reason to suppose these are not rationalisations. The shape has been popular for a couple of hundred years. It is usually associated with a plain head for slotted screws, but has been used with many head forms. "See Also: "The History of Screws Types and variations. There are many types of screw heads, of which the most common are the slotted, Phillips, PoziDriv SupaDriv (crosspoint), Robertson, TORX, and Allen (hex). Screwdrivers come in a large variety of sizes to match those of screws, from tiny jeweler's screwdrivers up. If a screwdriver that is not the right size and type for the screw is used, it is likely that the screw will be damaged in the process of tightening it. This is less important for PoziDriv and SupaDriv, which are designed specifically to be more tolerant of size mismatch. When tightening a screw with force, it is important to press the head hard into the screw, again to avoid damaging the screw. Some manual screwdrivers have a ratchet action whereby the screwdriver blade is locked to the handle for clockwise rotation, but uncoupled for counterclockwise rotation when set for tightening screws; and vice versa for loosening. Many screwdriver designs have a handle with detachable head (the part of the screwdriver which engages with the screw), called "bits" as with drill bits, allowing a set of one handle and several heads to be used for a variety of screw sizes and types. This kind of design has allowed the development of electrically powered screwdrivers, which, as the name suggests, use an electric motor to rotate the bit. In such cases the terminology for power drills is used, e.g. "shank" or "collet". Some drills can also be fitted with screwdriver heads. Manual screw drivers with a spiral ratchet'" mechanism to turn pressure (linear motion) into rotational motion also exist, and predate electric screwdrivers. The user pushes the handle toward the workpiece, causing a pawl in a spiral groove to rotate the shank and the removable bit. The ratchet can be set to rotate left or right with each push, or can be locked so that the tool can be used like a conventional screwdriver. Once very popular, these spiral ratchet drivers, using proprietary bits, have been largely discontinued by manufacturers such as Stanley, although one can still find them at vintage tool auctions. Companies such as Lara Specialty Tools now offer a modernized version that uses standard 1 /4-inch hex shank power tool bits. Since a variety of drill bits are available in this format, it allows the tool to do double duty as a "push drill". Many modern electrical appliances, if they contain screws at all, use screws with heads other than the typical slotted or Phillips styles. TORX is one such pattern that has become very widespread. The main cause of this trend is manufacturing efficiency: TORX and other types are designed so the driver will not slip out of the fastener as will a Phillips driver. (Slotted screws are rarely used in mass-produced devices, since the driver is not inherently centered on the fastener). A benefit disadvantage of non-typical fasteners (depending on your point of view) is that it can be more difficult for users of a device to disassemble it than if more-common head types were used, but TORX and other drivers are widely available. Specialized patterns of security screws are also used, such as the Gamebit head style used in all Nintendo consoles, though drivers for most security heads are, again, readily available. While screwdrivers are designed for the above functions, they are commonly also used as improvised substitutes for pry bars, levers, and hole punches, as well as other tools. There is no such thing as a "left-handed screwdriver", as the device can easily be wielded in either hand. To be sent on an errand to find a left-handed screwdriver is often a test of stupidity, or is used as a metaphor for something useless. The term "Birmingham screwdriver" is used jokingly in the UK to denote a hammer or sledgehammer. The handle and shaft of screwdrivers have changed considerably over time. The design is influenced by both purpose and manufacturing requirements. The "Perfect Handle" screwdriver was first manufactured by HD Smith & Company that operated from 1850 to 1900. Many manufacturers adopted this handle design world wide. The "Flat Bladed" screwdriver was another design composed of drop forged steel with riveted wood handles? Among slotted screwdrivers, there are a couple of major variations at the blade or bit end involving the profile of the blade as viewed face-on. The more common type is sometimes referred to as keystone'", where the blade profile is slightly flared before tapering off at the end. To maximize access in space-restricted applications, the same edges for the "'cabinet'" variety, in contrast, are straight and parallel, meeting the end of the blade at a right angle. |