The implements described hereafter are called “hand-tools” to
distinguish them from machine-tools. _A portable tool_ is a tool or
machine-tool which can be taken from place to place, for example a
riveting machine.
[Illustration: FIG. 610.]
_Tool_, the word, comes probably from toil, signifying the thing with
which one toils or labors, a hammer, file or wrench; a tool never
ceases to be a tool, _i.e._, something which is applied directly to the
work; generally tools in machine practice cut, abrade, like a file, or
strike—as a hammer; a tool is that which is brought to bear directly on
the work; again, it is any implement used by a craftsman at his work;
it is any instrument employed for performing, or aiding to perform,
mechanical operations by means of striking, penetration, separation,
abrasion, friction, etc.
Again in practical mechanics the word tool has a restrictive meaning;
a single device, as a chisel, crowbar or saw, or a very simple
combination of moving parts, as tongs, shears, pincers, etc. These
latter for manual use, are always called tools, although embodied in
the strict technical definition of machine.
Such machines as are used in shaping materials in the construction of
the parts of other machines, and also many of those which perform work,
such as boring, planing, riveting, etc., formerly only done by hand,
and still performed manually to a greater or less extent, are nearly
always called machine tools; the term, engine tool, is more in accord
with general usage when referring to large and complicated machines.
_It is by his knowledge of the application of hand-tools and their
practical use, that the pump attendant is judged by those around him._
The skillful mechanic, who with many others, constructs a machine, may
be neglected, but one who skillfully operates the apparatus, seldom
fails of due credit and reward, hence these paragraphs are intended to
emphasize the importance of these more humble implements.
Fig. 610 represents _a pipe cutter_—a hand tool specially used for
cutting of wrought iron, steel or brass pipe. This tool consists of a
cast steel body, tapped in one end to receive the adjusting screw or
handle which also serves to rotate the tool when applied to a pipe.
The cutting is generally effected by a hardened cast steel cutter with
cutting edges having angles of about 60° like a V thread; an enlarged
form of this cutter is shown in the engraving.
[Illustration: FIG. 611.]
Fig. 611 shows _a ratchet drill_; this is a tool in which the rotary
motion of the drill is derived from a ratchet and pawl actuated by a
lever or handle. There are various forms of this class of tools. This
one is the “Packer ratchet.” The thread for adjusting or feeding the
drill is protected from chips and dirt by a sleeve which covers the
shank.
The center is of tempered tool steel as well as the ratchet and pawl.
The socket is usually made square.
_In cutting larger sizes of pipes_ sometimes a special cutting-tool
is introduced in place of the circular cutter to accomplish the more
difficult work; in shop practice it is customary to cut the large sizes
of pipe in a lathe or screwing machine.
[Illustration: FIG. 612.]
[Illustration: FIG. 613.]
[Illustration: FIG. 614.]
The three tools shown on this page are designed to prepare the pipe
for the reception of the threaded end of the pipe to be joined. The
upper one, Fig. 612, is _a reamer_ used to enlarge a hole, or to round
up one that has been drilled or cut with a chisel, to prepare it for
tapping. The lower, Fig. 614, is _the tap_ which cuts the thread. The
middle, Fig. 613, is a _combined drill and tap_ which is operated by a
ratchet and is used to drill and tap a hole _in water pipe_, etc., at
one operation.
“_Tapping_” is the process by which the thread is formed in the
interior of a hole, and is done with a tap; _screwing_ is the reverse
process by which the thread is formed on the outside of a cylindrical
surface, as a pipe or round bar of iron.
_A tap consists of an external screw_ of the required size, formed of
steel and more or less tapered, part of the thread being cut away by
longitudinal grooves in order to present a series of cutting edges. By
screwing into a nut in the manner of an ordinary bolt this tap forms
the thread required.
_Plug-taps_ are usually made in sets of three. The first, called _the
entering tap_ or taper tap, generally tapers regularly throughout its
length; the second, or _intermediate tap_, sometimes tapers, but is
usually cylindrical with two or three tapering threads at the end; the
third, called the plug-tap or _bottoming-tap_, is always parallel, with
the full thread carried to the end.
[Illustration: FIG. 615.]
[Illustration: FIG. 616.]
Fig. 615 shows _a crow_. This is used to hook underneath a pipe and to
support and feed a ratchet drill in cutting a hole. The sliding head
is fastened by a double ended gib key which secures it in any desired
position. _A swivel bench vise_ is shown in Fig. 616. This tool has
cast steel jaws with a wrought iron slide and is attached to the bench
with a screw so that it may be turned in any position.
_A pipe vise_ is shown in Fig. 617. This is mounted on a journal
bearing so that it may be clamped in any position from a horizontal to
a perpendicular.
[Illustration: FIG. 617.]
_The pipe vise is especially a bench tool_; it is designed to “grip”
pipes of various sizes while they are being threaded, cut off or
otherwise operated upon.
_A parallel_ or ordinary bench vise will only grip a pipe on two
opposite sides, and, if tightened, the strain will easily collapse it,
owing to its hollow form; but a pipe vise is so made that it presses
upon four points, as the jaws or holding portions are formed V shaped,
instead of parallel.
Some pipe vises are formed of two pivoted discs instead of jaws, having
semicircles or recesses, which fit all diameters of pipes up to two
inches, and bear on the outside of the pipe all around.
It is an improvement to have the upper portion of the vise hinged at
one side, and fixed with a pin or collar at the other, as by opening
the jaws it renders more convenient the removal or insertion of the
pipe to be operated upon.
The upper Fig. 618 on page 342 represents an indispensable tool for
cutting pipe threads by hand; one handle—of which there are two—is
shown in the figure immediately beneath _the pipe stock and die_,
which is the familiar name of the combination. The _guard_ in the
illustration is thrown open to allow the _die_ to be removed or
exchanged. Fig. 620 represents the latter; solid steel dies are
commonly used, but _adjustable dies_ are made. Figs. 621 and 622 are
_bushings_ to fit in the end of the stock to guide the pipe; there is
one bushing for each size of pipe.
Fig. 623 shows a _nipple-holder_ which is used to hold short pieces
of pipe by the thread upon one end, while the die is applied to cut
a thread upon the other end. This tool is generally used in a pipe
cutting machine, which is operated by power, but it can also be held in
a common vise.
NOTE.—The die may be centered on the nipple described above by
_placing in the die stock_ a guide bushing that will easily ride
over the nipple holder. The thread can now be cut until the die just
touches the nipple holder, and there will be practically no blank
space between the threads on the ends. After the die has been backed
off the nipple can be removed from the holder by unscrewing the
center with a monkey wrench. _A nipple holder should be made for each
size of pipe that is cut and threaded by hand._ A piece of pipe with
a coupling on its end may be used as an improvised nipple holder.
[Illustration: FIG. 618.]
[Illustration: FIG. 619.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 620-622.]
[Illustration: FIG. 623.]
Fig. 624 shows an extension _pipe tongs_; this tool may be adjusted to
fit a number of different sizes by manipulating the thumb screw, shown
in the cut.
[Illustration: FIG. 624.]
[Illustration: FIG. 625.]
Fig. 625 represents the _Trimo pipe wrench_. This name is an
abbreviation of the word Tremont from the street in Boston of that
name. It is adjusted to its work by a milled nut in the pivoted jaw;
the latter is brought into position at each stroke by a leaf spring
attached to the main lever. In the larger sizes the steel jaws are
removable or can be detached and replaced after being repaired.
The lower engraving, Fig. 626, is a _chain tongs_ with removable,
tool-steel jaws. The hard scale on the piping rapidly destroys the
sharp edges on these jaws so that they require frequent sharpening. The
links of the chain have a peculiar hook form so that they cannot slip.
[Illustration: FIG. 626.]
_A spanner_, shown in Fig. 627, is a special form of wrench, which
circles or spans around; generally used for twisting a circular-shaped
portion, provided with holes in its circumference.
[Illustration: FIG. 627.]
[Illustration: FIG. 628.]
_Screw or monkey-wrenches_ are those which have a movable jaw, so that
the tool may be adjusted to fit any sized nut within its compass; as
shown in Fig. 628. There are many designs of monkey-wrenches. The one
here represented is known as the “knife-handle” on account of the
identical construction of the handle of this wrench and that of a
pocket knife. It is strong and the shank is extra heavy so that it is
hardly possible to spring the jaws in fair use.
[Illustration: FIG. 629.]
_An interchangeable socket wrench_ is shown in Fig. 629. The handle is
much like a ratchet drill, having a pawl and ratchet wheel attached to
the sockets; these are for use upon various sizes of hexagon or square
heads, as represented by figures underneath the handle. Some of these
socket wrenches have forms of steel for insertion into the hole in the
ratchet by which different shaped and sized bolt heads and nuts may be
turned without changing the main socket.
_The word wrench_ which gives this term to the tools here described
is one of the strong words of the English language; wrench means,
primarily, “a violent twist or turn given to something,” hence, as
derived, almost any instrument that causes a twist or torsional strain
comes under this heading. A wrench is a tool used by hand to turn or
rotate other tools, nuts or bolts.
A wrench is specially designated according to its shape and of the jaws
or openings, as an open-end box-wrench, etc. If the opening is through
one end, it is termed _a single-ended wrench_; if it is in the middle,
_a double-ended_ or tap-wrench. If the recess is open, it is termed
_an open-ended wrench_; if closed, forming a square or hexagon opening
through the metal, _a box-wrench_. A solid wrench having a notched
angular recess in its end, so that any nut or bolt which will enter the
jaws can be grasped, is called _an alligator-wrench_.
_The hammer_ was probably the first tool used by mankind; hammers of
stone are found among the remains of antiquity, and these are still in
common use among barbarous races. The hammer is made in such a variety
of forms that it is almost impossible to classify it; it is named not
only for the use to which it is put, but after the trade-class which
uses it, as the machinist hammer, the blacksmith-hammer, etc.
The hammer is made of high-grade steel, carefully tempered head and
peen; the head is usually made cylindrical with slightly rounding face;
the eye of the hammer is the center opening through which the handle
is inserted. The peen of a hammer is the opposite end to the face, and
terminates in a rounded or wedge-shaped point.
NOTE.—In its use _the hammer should be grasped near the end of the
handle_, giving it a free arm swing, and carrying the head through
a nearly vertical plane. If the plane of the swing approaches a
horizontal the weight of the hammer will produce a twisting effort
on the fore-arm, which will be very tiresome. _The handle should be
grasped with only sufficient force to safely control the blow_.
[Illustration: FIG. 630.]
[Illustration: FIG. 631.]
[Illustration: FIG. 632.]