Not a lot of people think of zip screws as motors but that is exactly what they are, the simplest type of motor. An actuator is a kind of motor that is used to move something. A linear actuator is a device that converts rotary motion of a motor into linear motion. Therefore, a screw is a linear actuator. These handy little devices have a flat or curved head and a helical outer groove.
The world is full of tiny linear actuators. There are two types of screw head. The straight kind has a single groove and is manipulated into place with a straight screwdriver. The other type has two grooves perpendicular to one another. This is called a "crosshead" or Phillips screwdriver. It is used because of its self-centering activity. You can sometimes use a straight screwdriver to set a crosshead screw. The man credited with its invention was Henry F. Phillips (1890 - 1958).
We really take his invention for granted and never give Henry Phillips a second thought. We came from Portland in Oregon and bought the design of the device from a man named John P. Thompson, who must surely be kicking himself now. Phillips made a few modifications to the device and patented it.
One of the first purchasers of the Phillips head screwdrivers and screws was the company that produced the Cadillac luxury sedan, General Motors Company. Phillips later sold the patents to Ford in 1945. Henry passed away in 1958.
It is interesting to note that a crosshead screw can be driven with an ordinary, straight screwdriver, but the reverse operation, using a crosshead driver to set a straight screw, doesn't work so well. It just can't get the necessary torque. When this happens, a table knife works just as well, or a thin coin like a British ha'penny or an American dime.
A screw is different from a bolt, although they perform a similar function, holding stuff together. A bolt has external threads at one end and a head at the other. The bolt is slipped through two holes and a nut, which has internal threads, is wound around the external threads until the whole apparatus fits together tightly.
Screws do not need nuts to hold them in place. Let's say you are hanging a picture on your wall. You drill a hole in the plaster or sheet rock, preferably in a place on the wall that has a two by four behind it. Then, you place a rawl plug, a plastic sleeve, into the resultant hole. It makes the screw fit more securely. You drive in the screw, leaving a bit of the shaft sticking out. The picture hangs on the part of the screw that juts out from the wall.
Zip screws are used mainly for sheet metal (the kind used for ducting) and guttering. These have an especially sharp point that is easy to pierce through thin, soft metal. It gets its name because it zips straight through. If, on the other hand, you want to work with a harder or thicker sheet of metal, then you would use a TEK screw.
The world is full of tiny linear actuators. There are two types of screw head. The straight kind has a single groove and is manipulated into place with a straight screwdriver. The other type has two grooves perpendicular to one another. This is called a "crosshead" or Phillips screwdriver. It is used because of its self-centering activity. You can sometimes use a straight screwdriver to set a crosshead screw. The man credited with its invention was Henry F. Phillips (1890 - 1958).
We really take his invention for granted and never give Henry Phillips a second thought. We came from Portland in Oregon and bought the design of the device from a man named John P. Thompson, who must surely be kicking himself now. Phillips made a few modifications to the device and patented it.
One of the first purchasers of the Phillips head screwdrivers and screws was the company that produced the Cadillac luxury sedan, General Motors Company. Phillips later sold the patents to Ford in 1945. Henry passed away in 1958.
It is interesting to note that a crosshead screw can be driven with an ordinary, straight screwdriver, but the reverse operation, using a crosshead driver to set a straight screw, doesn't work so well. It just can't get the necessary torque. When this happens, a table knife works just as well, or a thin coin like a British ha'penny or an American dime.
A screw is different from a bolt, although they perform a similar function, holding stuff together. A bolt has external threads at one end and a head at the other. The bolt is slipped through two holes and a nut, which has internal threads, is wound around the external threads until the whole apparatus fits together tightly.
Screws do not need nuts to hold them in place. Let's say you are hanging a picture on your wall. You drill a hole in the plaster or sheet rock, preferably in a place on the wall that has a two by four behind it. Then, you place a rawl plug, a plastic sleeve, into the resultant hole. It makes the screw fit more securely. You drive in the screw, leaving a bit of the shaft sticking out. The picture hangs on the part of the screw that juts out from the wall.
Zip screws are used mainly for sheet metal (the kind used for ducting) and guttering. These have an especially sharp point that is easy to pierce through thin, soft metal. It gets its name because it zips straight through. If, on the other hand, you want to work with a harder or thicker sheet of metal, then you would use a TEK screw.
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