Locking pliers

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Opened grip pliers from the brand Vise-Grip®

A locking pliers is a forceps , which - in a given position on - set by means of an adjusting screw on an opening width workpiece can be clamped. Other names are clamping tongs , welding tongs and grip tongs . The latter name comes from the American brand name "Vise-Grip", English for "grips like a vice" .

With the toggle mechanism of this type of pliers, very high forces can be applied. If the knurled wheel at the lower end of the pliers is set correctly, a “ dead point ” is overcome when the grips of the pliers are brought together , from which point the pliers automatically clamp and hold the workpiece. The pliers are released by pulling the small additional lever on the inside of the front handle. This pushes the main handles apart until the clamping effect is canceled.

Locking pliers can be used like a “ third hand ” to fix workpieces.

Often they are also used to press two metal sheets together that are to be soldered or welded. For this purpose, grip pliers with widely projecting jaws are also available, with which, for example, pipes can also be clasped and clamped.

Locking pliers grip so tightly that they can also be used as a makeshift solution for loosening very tight screw connections if the heads of the screw or nut are already so damaged that ordinary tools can no longer be used.

The locking pliers were patented in 1924 for the Danish immigrant William Petersen in the USA and manufactured and sold for decades under the brand name Vise Grip, first registered on June 5, 1951, in DeWitt, Nebraska . In 2008 the plant was closed and production relocated to China . The fourth and most recent renewal of the registration of the brand name Vise Grip took place on July 2, 2011 in favor of the rights holder Irwin Industrial Tools , a segment of the US conglomerate Newell Rubbermaid .

Web links

Commons : Locking pliers  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Cimolino (Ed.): Technical assistance in truck accidents . ecomed , 2003, ISBN 3-609-68661-8 , pp. 170 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Jürgen Dankert, Helga Dankert: Technical Mechanics . 5th edition. Vieweg + Teubner , 2009, ISBN 978-3-8351-0177-7 , pp. 67 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ nebraskahistory.org: In 1924 the first locking pliers with the lever were patented. The first patent from 1921 was a pair of pliers without a locking lever.
  4. ↑ Espacenet - Bibliographic data. Retrieved February 12, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Last paragraph of a page about the history of the locking pliers
  6. ↑ JUSTIA Trademarks US Law and Rights Database, accessed February 23, 2016