wrench

wrench
wrencher, n.wrenchingly, adv.
/rench/, v.t.
1. to twist suddenly and forcibly; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist: He wrenched the prisoner's wrist.
2. to overstrain or injure (the ankle, knee, etc.) by a sudden, violent twist: When she fell, she wrenched her ankle.
3. to affect distressingly as if by a wrench.
4. to wrest, as from the right use or meaning: to wrench the facts out of context.
v.i.
5. to twist, turn, or move suddenly aside: He wrenched away.
6. to give a wrench or twist at something.
n.
7. a wrenching movement; a sudden, violent twist: With a quick wrench, she freed herself.
8. a painful, straining twist, as of the ankle or wrist.
9. a sharp, distressing strain, as to the feelings.
10. a twisting or distortion, as of meaning.
11. a tool for gripping and turning or twisting the head of a bolt, a nut, a pipe, or the like, commonly consisting of a bar of metal with fixed or adjustable jaws.
[bef. 1050; ME wrenchen (v.), OE wrencan to twist, turn; c. G renken]
Syn. 4. distort, twist, warp.

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Tool, usually operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts.

A wrench basically consists of a lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt or nut so that it can be twisted by a pull at right angles to the axes of the lever and the bolt or nut. Open-end wrenches have ends with straight-sided slots that fit over the part being tightened; box-end wrenches have ends that enclose the nut and have six, eight, 12, or 16 points inside the head. A socket wrench is essentially a short pipe with a square or hexagonal hole and either a permanent or a removable handle.

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tool
also called  Spanner,  

      tool, usually operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts. Basically, a wrench consists of a stout lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt or nut in such a way that it can be twisted by a pull on the wrench at right angles to the axes of the lever and the bolt or nut. Some wrenches have ends with straight-sided slots that fit over the part being tightened; these tools are known as open-end wrenches and are made in various sizes to fit specific bolt and nut sizes.

      Box-end wrenches have ends that enclose the nut and have 6, 8, 12, or 16 points inside the head. A wrench with 12 points is used on either a hexagonal or a square nut; the 8- and 16-point wrenches are used on square members. Because the sides of the box are thin, these wrenches are suitable for turning nuts that are hard to reach with an open-end wrench.

      When a nut or a bolt head is in a recess below the surface of a bolted member, a socket wrench must be used; this is essentially a short pipe with a square or hexagonal hole and either an integral or a removable handle. Modern socket wrenches are made in sets, consisting of a number of short sockets with a square hole in one end that fits a removable handle and 8- or 12-point holes in the other end to fit various bolt and nut sizes. There are several types of handles and extensions, such as a T handle, screwdriver-grip handle, and a ratchet handle (see ratchet).

      A useful accessory for a socket-wrench set is a handle equipped with a mechanism that measures the amount of torque, or turning effort, exerted by the wrench on the nut or bolt. One type of torque handle has two arms attached to the head, which carries the socket that fits the bolt or nut to be tightened; one arm carries the torque-indicating scale and remains fixed relative to the head, while the other arm carries the handgrip and is bent, relative to the head and the scale, when a bolt is tightened. A pointer on the bent arm indicates the torque on the scale. The purpose of a torque wrench is to make sure that screws and bolts in bolted assemblies are installed with sufficient tightness to prevent loosening during use, without being overtightened.

      Wrenches with one fixed and one adjustable parallel jaw can be used on various sizes of bolts and nuts within a limited range. On one type the jaws are at right angles to the handle; this wrench, invented by Charles Moncky, is known as a monkey wrench. On another type, originally called a Crescent wrench, the jaws are almost parallel to the handle; on both types the movable jaw is adjusted by turning a worm that engages a rack of teeth cut into the jaw.

      The adjustable pipe, or stillson, wrench is used to hold or turn pipes or circular bars. This wrench has serrated jaws, one of which is pivoted on the handle to create a strong gripping action on the work.

      Recessed-head screws or set screws commonly have a hexagonally shaped recess and require a special wrench, usually referred to as an allen wrench; it consists of a hexagonal bar of tool steel shaped into the form of an L, either end of which fits into the recess.

      Power or impact wrenches are used for tightening or loosening nuts quickly. They are essentially small hand-held electric or pneumatic motors that can rotate socket wrenches at high speed. They are equipped with a torque-limiting device that will stop the rotation of the socket wrench when a preset torque is reached. Pneumatic wrenches are commonly used in automobile service stations, where compressed air is available and the sparking of electric motors is a fire hazard.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wrench — (r[e^]nch), n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. [root]144. See {Wring}, and cf. {Ranch}, v. t.] [1913 Webster] 1. Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Wrench — Wrench, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrenched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Wrenching}.] [OE. wrenchen, AS. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. ????. See {Wrench}, n.] [1913 Webster] 1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wrench — vb Wrench, wrest, wring can all basically mean to turn or twist forcibly, but they tend to vary widely in the implied purpose or result of the action. Wrench denotes a twisting or turning with considerable force, often with an abrupt tug or yank …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • wrench — rench vt to injure or disable by a violent twisting or straining <slipped and wrenched her back> wrench n a sharp twist or sudden jerk straining muscles or ligaments also the resultant injury (as of a joint) …   Medical dictionary

  • wrench — [rench] n. [ME < OE wrenc, a trick, deceit; akin to Ger ränke, a bend, twist < IE * wreng < base * wer , to twist, turn > WORM] 1. a sudden, sharp twist or pull 2. an injury caused by a twist or jerk, as to the back, a joint, etc. 3.… …   English World dictionary

  • wrench — index contort, deprive, distort, exact, force (break), luxate, sever Burton s Legal Thesaurus. Will …   Law dictionary

  • wrench — [v] jerk, force violently bend, coerce, compel, contort, dislocate, dislodge, distort, drag, exact, extract, pervert, pinch, pull, rend, rip, screw, sprain, squeeze, strain, tear, tug, tweak, twist, wrest, wring, yank; concept 80 …   New thesaurus

  • wrench — ► VERB 1) pull or twist suddenly and violently. 2) injure (a part of the body) as a result of a sudden twisting movement. ► NOUN 1) a sudden violent twist or pull. 2) a feeling of abrupt pain and distress caused by one s own or another s… …   English terms dictionary

  • Wrench — For other uses, see Wrench (disambiguation). A set of chrome vanadium metric wrenches, open at one end, box/ring at the other. This type is commonly known as a combination wrench. A wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide grip and mechanical… …   Wikipedia

  • wrench — [1] A device for removing nuts, bolts, and other fasteners. [2] A colloquial term for a mechanic or someone who is handy repairing engines. [3] To use a wrench tool. See adjustable wrench Allen wrench box wrench brake adjusting wrench brake… …   Dictionary of automotive terms

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