Morning Folks 07 29 06

'A wrench by any other word would turn a nut as sweet... '


Ed's son John (my stepson, now) sent me information today that made me decide to follow up on the July 4th posting where there was some discussion of the proper word for an adjustable wrench. As you may recall, Eric, my niece's husband had told their son Skylar that the wrench he had was not a monkey wrench, as his tool-challenged wife, Corina, had suggested.



Eric said he was told to refer to it as a crescent wrench by a shop teacher during his younger days. It apparently set off quite a discussion in the south because when Ed read my blog he told me that a Crescent wrench was a brand name like Craftsmen and that he would just call it an adjustable wrench. Today, John sent me the following reference from Wikepedia, the on-line encyclopedia. This should put the question to rest once and for all, except I am not really sure what Sky's wrench looked like in the first place. Corina might have been right and it may have been a monkey wrench. Whatever it was, we all should know the difference after reading today's tool trivia.


A wrench or spanner is a tool used to turn bolts, nuts or other hard-to-turn items.
In American English, wrench is the standard term, while spanner refers to a specialized wrench with a series of pins or tabs around the circumference. (These pins or tabs fit into the holes or notches cut into the object to be turned.) In British English, spanner is the standard term. Hinged tools, such as pliers or tongs, are not generally considered wrenches.

Open-end wrench: a one-piece wrench with a U-shaped opening that grips two opposite faces of the bolt or nut. This wrench is often double ended, with a different sized opening at each end. The ends are generally oriented at an angle of around 30 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the handle. This allows a greater range of movement in enclosed spaces by flipping the wrench over.

Box-end wrench, or Box spanner, or Ring spanner: a one-piece wrench with an enclosed opening that grips the faces of the bolt or nut. The recess is generally a six-point or twelve-point opening for use with nuts or bolt heads with a hexagonal shape. The twelve-point fits onto the fastening at twice as many angles, an advantage where swing is limited. Eight-point wrenches are also made for square shaped nuts and bolt heads. Box-ends are also often double-ended.

Double Handled Tap Wrench
Combination wrench: a double-ended tool with one end being like an open-end wrench, and the other end being like a box-end wrench. Both ends generally fit the same size bolt.

Adjustable end wrench: an open-ended wrench with adjustable (usually smooth) jaws, also sometimes called by the original patent holder's brand name as a Crescent® Wrench (Crescent Tool and Horseshoe Company). Often used as a generic term.


Monkey wrench: an old type of adjustable end wrench with a straight handle and smooth jaws, these are also known in the UK as 'gas grips'.


Hope you have a fun day ahead of you and that nobody throws a monkey wrench into your plans!

Love, Suz


PS. After I posted this blog, I received this e-mail from my Dad:

Suzie,

The last two wrenches are a crescent wrench and a Stilson wrench (the red one). A monkey wrench is like the stilson wrench except it doesn't have the hinge like feature which lets it have a ratchet effect. It is used by plumbers
because it is made to work on round objects (like pipe) and the grip tightens as you apply pressure,

Love,

Dad

So I had to update the blog, set the record straight and find a picture of both Stilson and Monkey wrenches. Actually, I got the picture of the Stilson from Googling Monkeywrench. I want to thank Eric, Corina and Sky for starting this in the first place! And everyone else who So, even Google didn't know. Anyway, here is the followup:

Pipe wrench: an adjustable end wrench with self-tightening properties and hard serrated jaws that securely grip soft iron pipe and pipe fittings. Sometimes known by the original patent holder's brand name as a Stillson® Wrench.

Here we go again! A Stillson wrench is really a brand name that has become generic in its use.

The Monkey Wrench is an adjustable wrench which is rarely used today. Its use has generally been replaced by the adjustable-end wrench, which has a compact head and so is more easily used in confined places.
The term "monkey wrench" is also used colloquially to refer to the pipe wrench.

Concerning the origin of its name, this from William Rogers, The Progressive Machinist, Theo. Audel & Company, New York, 1903:

In his interesting article upon the genesis of machine design, Mr. W.H. Sargent spoke of the slide which moves up and down in the handle of a monkey wrench as resembling a toy monkey, and thereby drew an analogy. To this Mr. H.E. Madden writes: "The wrench is not named from this, neither is it so called because it is a handy thing to 'monkey' with. The right name is 'Moncky.' Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $2,000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, N.Y., where he afterward lived."



So there we go. Are we done yet? You all are driving me nuts!

Morning Folks 07 22 06

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!





Today is my new brother-in-law's birthday.

Bob is Ed's little brother who lives in Louisville, KY with his wife Susan.

We were glad they could come and help us celebrate in May. I was especially glad that Bob got to know my boys and Kim. Once I move south, I hope I can get to see them more frequently. We hope to go on a cruise with them sometime in February, if all goes as planned. When Ed, Bob and sister Kathy get together, there is always a lot of laughing. I wonder what they were all laughing at just before they took this one.


It's hard to find pictures of Bob because he is usually the one behind the camera. But he is very popular with his grand nieces and nephew and, somebody did snap a picture of him dancing with Indigo at our wedding.

I start preparing myself every year on Bob's birthday. My birthday follows in about 25 days and we were born in the same year.

I won't tell you how old we are this year,

but at least for the next 3 weeks or

so, it's nice to know I am younger than someone.

It's not as easy as it once was to find people older than me, so thanks, Bob!

Happy Birthday, bro-in-law. Hope you have a great day!

Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 07 18 06

The Cape is just exploding with Hydrangeas this summer. I took my camera with me to Dennisport and Yarmouth this past Sunday. I wish you could all see them in person, but here are a few pictures of some I found particularly pretty. Click on the pictures and you may be able to enlarge them.

These lace cap hydrangeas are in Joanna's yard.

I really can't decide if I like the pink ones more than the blue ones.

They are both just so pretty.

The blues are so bright this year.

A multi-colored display in Kathy's yard.

Depot Street in Dennisport is just gorgeous.

The name Hydrangea, means “water vessel,” given for its cup-shaped seed vessels.

I especially like the way people plant them near fences.

In flower folklore, Hydrangea means “thank you for understanding.”

Lacecaps and Mopheads, PeeGees and Oakleaf are some of the categories of hydrangea. Bury some iron nails near the roots to get blue ones and bricks to get pink ones, or at least that is what they used to say. Now I guess they have bottles of chemicals to add to make them change colors. Some day I am going to grow these in my yard. Until then, I will enjoy everyone else's.



Have a Fabulous Day.
Love Suz

Morning Folks 07 04 06

Here are a few pictures I took while I was on the Cape over the weekend when Maddie and Gabe were up from Florida visiting at Chuck's house. I didn't do a very good job getting everyone. I have no picture of Lizzie's face, only the back of her head and I missed pictures of Becky, Eric and Adam altogether. But here is what I did get. It was much too quick a visit. I hurt my back the night before on a boat in choppy water. I was not feeling my best, so I hobbled off home before I had the chance to visit much. Next time I hope to be a little more sociable. Maybe if I could have managed to sit down, I could have stayed longer!


Monica, Corina and Lizzie deep in conversation. Sorry, Lizzie. I know that's you, but nobody else will.
Madelyn is under that disguise somewhere. She came all the way from Florida to go to the beach at the Cape. Hmmmm. It was good to see her again, though. I wish we'd had more time. Well, I will just have to go all the way to Florida to see them again. It will be a sacrifice, but I think I will find a way to manage.
Jessie just accepted a teaching job in Phoenix, AZ. She just decided and the news is all very new.
She leaves August 1 and we will miss her.
But at least she will have summers off so she can come home for long visits. Good Luck Jessie, and Congratulations!

Someone is telling Maddie a painful story. Maybe I was telling her how I had fallen right on my you-know-what the night before . Ouch! Gabe looks pretty serious, too. Or bored. Can't quite tell. He is such a cutey. I am just so happy to have seen him 3 times in this last year.
Aren't the flowers pretty? Monica and I are trying to decide whether or not they are coriopsis. I think they are. But she thinks they are some kind of black-eyed susan. She is the gardner and knows much more than I do about them. But, whatever they are they are pretty. The whole garden looks really nice. Lavender, hydrangea, roses. Beautiful.
Corina and Erik, proud parents, are looking forward to spending the summer enjoying Skylar experience some 'firsts', like amusement parks. He is now tall enough to go on some of the rides. Will he be like Mommy, the daredevil who goes on every ride, the scarier the better? Or will he be like his Daddy, the sensible down-to-earth adult who knows, like my son Bill says, 'nobody over the age of seventeen should spin'?

Sky brought his tools to Grampy's. I think there were repairs around the house that he was going to do for Grampy while he was visiting.

I think the grown-ups might have caused some confusion for little Sky, though. Auntie Suzy, Daddy and Mommy had a discussion about which was correct, the term monkey wrench or crescent wrench. Although I think that Sky preferred the term monkey wrench, Daddy explained that a monkey wrench was not the correct term, having been taught in school to use the correct term, which is crescent wrench. Auntie Suzie offered that the latin term was probably the correct way to refer to it. To which Daddy responded, 'ah yes, the old Crescidus Wrenchus' or something like that.

Poor kid got so confused that he put his tools away. I hope we haven't somehow discouraged a budding handyman.

Chuck is just worried that if we did discourage Sky, he may have to do his own repairs. Wonder if he will use a monkey wrench?

Happy Fourth Everyone!



Hope you all had a great holiday.

Love,
Suz

July 1, 2006

RABBIT RABBIT RABBIT

Did you remember to say your rabbits this morning? MAddie and Gabe and I had a conversation about this in MAy. They had never heard of the rabbit thing before reading about it on my blog. But then, I went through about 34 years of life before finding out about it myself. All those wasted years...Well, I said rabbits for all of you this morning so you should be all set for July.

I am on the Cape in our trailer for the weekend. A friend is on her way down early this AM to spend a couple of days. She is a morning person and probably left about 6:00. I came down last night.


I wish Ed was here to enjoy the trailer that he bought and paid for and parked within walking distance from the beach. I am a kept woman, I guess. Should I feel guilty? Maybe just a little. Thanks, Sweetiepie.















Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will go to see Chuck and the gang at his summer home. Gabe and Maddie are here for a visit. It will be fun to see everybody. Looks to be a real pretty weekend down here. Too bad I have to go back to work on Monday. A nice long weekend would have been welcomed.

Well, have a great day and I will tell you all about my day at the beach tomorrow...unless I am too lazy.

Love,
Suz