George Whitney boiler

[Steamboat Mike]

I had to smile upon reading Lopez Mike's description of a Volvo left handed adjustable wrench.

When I were a lad my father bought a new 1970 Volvo station wagon. It was then that I figured out that "Volvo" was Swedish for "Lemon". That is a story for another time. It, however came equipped with its own adjustable wrench in the tool kit.

I also discovered the peculiar wrench and had the same problem with it. I never reached the crescendo of rage that Mike did, I found that when there was absolutely nothing else to use that the wrench would turn nuts and bolts. Something about the one eyed man in the land of the blind being king comes to mind. I seem to remember that the other end of the handle was forged into a flat spoon that was most useful for getting bicycle tires off and on the rim. I still have no idea if the Swedish engineers intended it to be used to change the car tires. I never thought of it as left handed, I just assumed it was a Metric Adjustable Wrench since I found it in the same box as a reversible Sawzall, now that is rare bird, very useful in tight quarters.

There is reference to left/right thread pipe boilers in Audel's Engineer' Manual in their
description of a Roberts type boiler. Always seemed like a clever idea, though I think I would rather have welde joints in order to not reduce the wall thickness by threading. But, if welding is not an option then threading could steam your boat.

Best regards, Steamboat Mike

[Bert Blik]

Just to throw my two pennies worth on the fire of the left or right handed " crescent wrench" .
May I politely remind our steam boating brethren, in the colonies, that the adjustable spanner was invented by a Swedish chap called Johansson in 1888 who was an associate of a firm called "Bahco" .
Over here in the Netherlands we actually refer to an adjustable spanner as a " Bahco" using the brand name for the tool.
For us here in the other " civilised " world it is very awkward picking up a "Snap-on " adjustable spanner, for instance, and having to adjust the gap between the jaws by turning the wrong way

What it boils down to is what you're used to . As we have both European and American gas turbines on board I work with metric and american sized spanners and before any body mentions it, I do use properly fitting spanners on these very expensive machines but as we all know, an adjustable can come in handy from time to time.

Bert

[Lopez Mike]

Well (again) I learned something new. That European adjustable wrenches are different. I wonder which way they turn in China?

And (again) it reveals to me a belief I had that I was unaware of. That all wrenches were made the same and that the invention was by the Crescent company. I stand corrected and exposed as a Chauvinist (named after a Frenchman, by the way!).

[Mike Rometer]

Well (again) I learned something new. That European adjustable wrenches are different. I wonder which way they turn in China?

And (again) it reveals to me a belief I had that I was unaware of. That all wrenches were made the same and that the invention was by the Crescent company. I stand corrected and exposed as a Chauvinist (named after a Frenchman, by the way!).

Hence Metric and Imperial adjustables Mike!

[Lopez Mike]

Is it a metric v.s. imperial thing? Which way does your wrench turn? The way I described as my usual thing here?

[Bert Blik]

I don't think this is a metric vs. imperial thing,Mike.
When Mr Johansson invented the adjustable spanner most of Europa, as far as I'm aware, was still using Whitworth thread so it cannot be a metric vs imperial thing.
And why he chose to turn the adjusting way in the opposite way to what you are used to , I haven't got the foggiest idea.
All I can tell you is that most European brands of adjustable spanners turn the opposite way of the american ones , and like yourself, to pick up one that turns the" wrong " way can be quite frustrating.
Like I said before, it's simply what you're used to.

[Mike Rometer]

Is it a metric v.s. imperial thing? Which way does your wrench turn? The way I described as my usual thing here?

Just checked my three and they are all "Imperial".

[cyberbadger]

What about this one?

handwrench.jpg (27.03 KiB) Viewed 7468 times

-CB