Zip Screws And Other Types Of Linear Actuator

By Bonnie Contreras


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.

There are loads of types of simple linear actuators. Most have a single indentation in the head and can be driven into a wall or other material using a straight screwdriver. Others have a two grooves at right angles to each other. These can be driven by either a normal screwdriver, but more effectively by a special tool called a phillips head screwdriver, named after a man named Henry F Phillips.

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 his very first customers was General Motors. The product found its way onto the production line of the Cadillac. Phillips sold the patent to Ford Motor Company for five million bucks in 1945. He died in 1958 at the age of 68.

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 similar apparatus is the bolt, which does a similar job to the small but mighty linear actuator. A bolt has external threads on the distal end from the head. In order to secure the bolt, a nut, with internal threads, is employed. It is screwed around the bottom threads until whatever it is holding is securely in place.

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 for guttering and for sheet metal, the type used for heating ducts. They have a sharp tip that will easily pierce soft metal. If you are working with a harder, thicker metal, then you would opt for a TEK screw. The zip screw, also known as a self-piercing screw, earned its name because it zip in fast.




About the Author:



Comments :

0 التعليقات to “Zip Screws And Other Types Of Linear Actuator”

Post a Comment

blog search directory
Powered by Blogger.

Ebook

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Close
google-site-verification: google383b8820f8ac06ae.html