A lot of people take zip screws for granted, not realizing that a screw is a special kind of motor, called an actuator. An actuator is a motor that moves something. A linear actuator is an actuator that changes rotary motion into linear motion. Therefore, all types of screw are tiny, little motors. A screw has a pointed shaft with external, helical grooves and a flat head with one or two grooves.
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 Phillips' first customers, in 1936, was General Motors, who put it to work on its Cadillac assembly lines. He sold the patents to Ford Motor Company in 1945 for approximately $5 million. Phillips died in 1958.
Now, while a phillips head screw can be set with a straight, ordinary screwdriver, it doesn't work very well the other way around. A phillips head screwdriver is useless for screwing a single-grooved screw. This is because it can't get a grip on the single groove. Most people give up and use a small coin, like a dime or a British half penny if they have one lying around. A table knife also works in a pinch if you are desperate.
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 require nuts to hold them into place. Imagine you want to hang up a painting on your wall. You would drill a hole, making sure you are drilling into a strut and not just plasterboard or sheetrock. In most cases, you bash in a rawl plug, a plastic sleeve that holds the screw more securely in place than if you just screwed it directly into the wall. You don't make the head of the screw flush with the wall; you leave a bit hanging out to hold the picture.
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 Phillips' first customers, in 1936, was General Motors, who put it to work on its Cadillac assembly lines. He sold the patents to Ford Motor Company in 1945 for approximately $5 million. Phillips died in 1958.
Now, while a phillips head screw can be set with a straight, ordinary screwdriver, it doesn't work very well the other way around. A phillips head screwdriver is useless for screwing a single-grooved screw. This is because it can't get a grip on the single groove. Most people give up and use a small coin, like a dime or a British half penny if they have one lying around. A table knife also works in a pinch if you are desperate.
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 require nuts to hold them into place. Imagine you want to hang up a painting on your wall. You would drill a hole, making sure you are drilling into a strut and not just plasterboard or sheetrock. In most cases, you bash in a rawl plug, a plastic sleeve that holds the screw more securely in place than if you just screwed it directly into the wall. You don't make the head of the screw flush with the wall; you leave a bit hanging out to hold the picture.
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.
