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Are "Whitworth" wrenches ambidextrous?

To: british-cars@pinocchio.encore.com
Subject: Are "Whitworth" wrenches ambidextrous?
From: Stardent.COM!jmuller@bu.edu (Jim Muller)
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 91 10:47:40 EST
Okay, are they symmetric, if not ambidextrous?

My two cents:  I've always heard to use them like this:

               /\
             #|  |X
             ##\/XX
            XXXXXXX
              XX
 this way --> XX
              XX

And it sorta' made sense to me.  The reason had nothing to do with whether
it pushed the sliding part into the handle.  It had to do with the lever-arm
length on which the bolt head stressed the sliding joint.

        X   A->##
       XX      ####    When you torque this wrench clockwise, tightening
      XXX      ####    the bolt, the head presses against point B.  When
      XXX   B->####    you torque it counterclockwise, the head presses
      XXXXXXXXXXXXXX   against A.  Given that the joint has some slop, the
      XXXXXXX/////XX   fit will be tighter at B, resulting in a better grip
       XXXXXXXXXXX     as the the gap opens up less that it would at A.
         XXXXXXX
          XXXXX
          XXXXX

Just my two cents.

Jim Muller
jmuller@stardent.com



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