ABC’s of Hand Tools: Their Correct Usage and Care

52 Pages·1945·9.06 MB·English

by  Public Relations Staff

"All drawings of Primitive Pete con-
tained in this booklet are copyrighted
1943 by Walt Disney Productions."
HAND TOOLS
Their Correct Usage and Care
PUBLIC RELATIONS STAFF
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
COPYRIGHT 1945 GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION
FOREWORD
This book wasprepared originally in slightlydifferent
formforuse by theArmed Forces ofthe United States.
Itwassupplied in largequantities to help in the train-
ing of mechanicSy those men who were charged with
the servicing, maintenance, and repair of that vast
supply ofmechanized equipment used in modernjvar-
fare. The material was selected primarily with this
in mind.
It was thought that it might be equally helpful to
—
other people the civilian mechanic, high school stu-
dent, or the amateur repair man found in mosthouse-
holds. The lattermay nothave thesame variety oftools
to select from, and consequently he may have to break
someoftherules setforth in the book, buthe willprob-
ably learn some things about the tools he does have
which he did not know before.
It is not a theoretical textbook. It is more of a
lecture from a good mechanic with years ofpractical
experience in the shop. The illustrations carry much
of the story. It is a simple exposition of a subject
which is not as simple asyou may think.
INTRODUCTION
It was the start of the idea that
the biggest, strongest man was
not necessarily the leader, that
he could not always turn out the
most work or perform the most
amazing feats. Tools give every-
oneachance, regardlessofstature.
From this beginning in pre-his-
toric time, tools have been de-
veloped, enlarged, refined. Today
we have powerful machines, some
'yy^^
of them two stories high, which
are controlled by one man but
do things that could not be done
byhundredsofmenwithouttools.
Thousands of years ago Man Tools are multipliers of our
had no tools but his bare hands. strength, and are Hke miUions of
They were his knife and fork, willing hands, working for our
hammer and pHers, sword and comfort. Without tools there
club. They caught his food, killed would be no civilization as we
his enemies, and built his home. know it today.
Only his own strength stood be- But through aU this develop-
tween him and death. Thus the ment of complicated machine
man with the strongest hands tools, the hand tool has never
owned the best tools. Nothing lost its importance. It is still
coimted but physical strength. necessaryinmassproduction, and
But one day somebody—and even more so in the repair and
you can be sure it wasn't the maintenance field. And what
strongest man in the tribe—dis- home does not contain at least a
covered that with a stone fast- hanmier and a screwdriver? Vol-
ened to the end of a stick he umes have been written on ma-
could strike a harder blow than chine tools and only trsdned men
he could with his fist alone. He are entrusted with them. Hand
could break things—including tools are considered so simple
skulls—with more ease than be- that usually no one bothers to
fore. He coxild do many things point out the right and wrong
which even the strongest man ways of using them and taking
couldn't do with his bare hands. care of them.
And so that first hammer was So in the following pages we
the start ofsomething brand new. have picked out some ofthe most
It was the start of something conmion hand tools and will try
which has continued ever since. to point out how to get the best
3
INTRODUCTION
use out of them. We will show years ago and didn't have any-
right and wrong ways to do the body to tell him about these
job, along with some short cuts things.
and "tricks of the trade". Primi- We hope this book will be of
tive Pete is the unsuspecting vic- help in turning out better work
tim who shows us the wrong way and in saving wear and tear on
to do things and all the troubles thetools. Incidentallyitmaysave
which result from it. He means some wear and tear on the user
well, but he was bom too many of the tools.
SCREWDRIVERS
SCREWDRIVERS is that the blade may break. The tip
of the blade is hardened to keep it
First, we will discuss screwdrivers. from wearing, and the harder it is
Practically everyoneisfamiliarwith the easier it will break if much of a
the standard screwdriver. The por- bending strain is applied.
tion you grip is called the handle, There are times when a screw-
the steel portion extending from the drivermay be used to advantage for
handle is the SHANK, and the end prying, butifyouuse itto pry make
which fits into the slot in the screw sure that it is large enough to stand
is called the BLADE. the force that is being applied. The
HANDLE BLADE way to avoid possible damage to
your screwdrivers, of course, is not
t'-""""-^''^^^ to use them for prying. Pinch bars,
\
SHANK sometimescalled prybars,should be
A screwdriver is intended for one
—
principal purpose to loosen or
tighten screws. But the ordinary
mechanic, especially the beginner,
uses it for so many other purposes
that it is one of the most misused
tools in his kit.
Theconventionalscrewdriverwith
a slim steel shank and wood or plas-
tic handle is designed to withstand
considerable twisting force in pro-
portion to its size. But it was not
designedtobeused asapryorpinch
barandifmuchforceisappliedwhen
it is so used, it will bend.
Another thing which may happen
ifthe screwdriver is used for prjring KEEP SCREWDRIVER SHANK VERTICAL
TO SCREW HEAD
used instead. They are made pur-
posely for prying and are strong
enoughtoresist bending.
If you must use a screwdriver as
a pry, use it with good mechanical
judgment.
A broken blade means that a
screwdriver becomes useless. It has
to be reworked and retempered and
that is something which requires
much
skill.
NEVER DO THIS Ifthe shank ofthe screwdriver is
SCREWDRIVERS
thehandlewouldsplitandthescrew-
driver would be ruined. Most ofthe
better screwdrivers for automotive
work are madewiththeshank going
all the way through the handle so
you can tap on them ifthe occasion
requires. Someofthe newertypesof
screwdrivers with moulded plastic
handles are made to withstand tap-
ping but others aren't, so don't take
any chances. Tools cost money and
sometimestheyarehardtogetwhen
NEVER HAMMER ON THE END OF A you need them, so when you use
SCREWDRIVER
tools, treat them gently.
once bent, it usually is difficult to Screwdrivers for general purpose
get it perfectly straight again. And are classified by size, according to
if the shank is not straight, it is the combined length of the shank
hard to keep the blade centered in andblade,whichiscommonlycalled
the slot of the screw. the BLADE. In size, they run 23^,
Don't ha—mmer on the end of a 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 inches, and
screwdriver it's not to be used in the diameter or thickness of the
place of a cold chisel, a punch or a shank and width and thickness of
drift. But here's another contradic- the blade tip which fits the screw
tion: Suppose you had to remove a slot are proportionate to the length
rusty screw and the slot was full of ofthe shank. There are special pur-
rust. In such a case, it would be all pose screwdrivers, however, which
right to tap gently on the handle of have extra thick or thin blades.
the screwdriver, holding it at an Too much emphasis cannot be
angletocleantheslot. Andafterthe placed on selecting the size of a
slotwasclearedsufficientlyyoumight
want to tap on thescrewdriverwith
ahammertoseatitwellintotheslot
before trying to loosen the screw.
Butremember,becautiousandcare-
ful. Before you do any tapping on
the handle, see that you have a
screwdriver which has the steel
shankextendingthroughthehandle.
Screwdrivers which do not have the
shankextendingthrough the handle
have the handle pinned to the
shank, usually through the ferrule
which is the metal sleeve on ^the
handle where the shank enters. If
you attempted to hammer on a ALWAYS SELECT RIGHT SIZE
screwdriverofthistype, chancesare SCREWDRIVER
6
SCREWDRIVERS
In addition to the set of general
purposescrewdrivers,thereareother
types designed for electrical and in-
strument work. Some of you are
familiar with the small screwdrivers
with a cUp for fastening them to
your pocket. A mechanic's kit isn't
complete without a couple of these
smallsizescrewdrivers.
GROUND ^ GROUND PHILLIPS TYPE SCREW-
RIGHT WRONG DRIVERS have become very popu-
screwdriver so that the thickness of lar in recent years because of the
the blade maikes a good fit in the many PhiUips head screws used by
screw slot. This not only prevents automobileandtruckmanufacturers,
thescrewslotfrom becomingburred especially on mouldings and other
and the blade tip from being dam- trim. Theheadsofthesescrewshave
aged, but reduces the force required two slots which cross at the center.
to keep the screwdriver in the slot. Their advantage over screws with
The tip of a correctly ground standard slots is that the screw-
screwdriver blade should have the drivercan'tsUdesidewaysoutofthe
sides of the blade practically paral- slot and mar the finish. However,
lel. Itcostsmore moneyto grind the more downward pressure must be
blade like this and most manufac- exerted on the Phillips screwdriver
turers grind the blade sides so they to keep it in the cross slot than to
gradually taper out to —the shank keep a correctly ground standard
body. HereisaUttletrick dressthe screwdriverinastandard screwslot.
the screwdriver blade on an emery Three sizes of Phillips type screw-
wheel so the faces taper in very drivers, a4, 6and8-inch, willhandle
slightly Afor a short distance back of allPhillipsheadscrewsusedonauto-
the tip. screwdriver blade ground motive vehicles.
in this manner willstay down inthe
screw slot even when a severe twist-
A
ing force is being exerted. blade
which tapers out from the tip, espe-
cially if the taper is extreme, has a
tendency to raise out of the slot
whenever much twisting is applied.
There is one type of heavy-duty
screwdriver with a square shank.
It's designed that way so you can
use a wrench on it. The shank is
extra large—made strong enough to
TAKE IT—and it's the only type
of screwdriver on which you should
useawrench. DON'TUSE PLIERS
ON A SCREWDRIVER. NEVER USE PLIERS ON SCREWDRIVER
SCREWDRIVERS
PHILLIPS HEAD SCREW AND SCREWDRIVER
Now and then a mechanic has This hasn't anything to do with
need for an OFFSET SCREW- the use of tools, but we might put
DRIVER when there isn't sufficient in a word of caution here on a
space to work a standard screw- closely related subject. Don't wear
driver. The offset screwdriver has ringswhenworkingaround batteries
one blade forged in Une with the or starting motors. There have been
shank orhandle and the other blade some bad bums because of this.
at right angles to the shank. With
such an arrangement, when the
swinging space for the screwdriver
is limited, the mechanic can change
ends aftereachswingand thuswork
the screw in or out of the threaded
hole.
One medium and one extra large
offsetscrewdrivershould beinevery
automotive tool kit. The extra large
size is used on drag link and tie rod
ends in automobile and truck steer-
ing mechanism.
A word of caution—never use a NEVER USE A SCREWDRIVER TO
CHECK HIGH AMPERAGE
screwdriver to check an electrical
circuit where the amperage is high. When a ring comes in contact with
By that, I meanwheretheelectrical a starter terminal and the starter
current is strong enough to arc and housing at the same time, there are
melt the screwdriver blade. This rapid and painful results.
doesn'tmeanthatyoushouldn'tuse If a screwdriver blade becomes
a screwdriver to find which spark damaged through misuse or ifa cor-
plug is causing an engine to miss. nerchipsoffbecausethe bladeistoo
Current to the spark plugs is high hard, the screwdriver can be made
in voltage but low in amperage and serviceable again by grinding it on
won't damage a screwdriver. an emery wheel. When grinding a
iMi
^
OFFSET SCREWDRIVER