The other day, I was having a conversation with myself about all the tools I needed to work on my car and to build the new railings on my back patio deck. Okay, let me kick off a concept here; here is a thought I had recently: are Nuts and Bolts properly engineered for humans, and do these fasteners and hardware take into consideration Human Anatomy and Dexterity? The answer is NO, and this, perhaps a complete redesign is now overdue. Why you ask, because we have better materials and more know how that’s why. And nuts and bolts have been used for centuries, how about an upgrade people?
It seems that if we use nuts and bolts, then we have to lug around tools, but that is not always possible and the added weight is often a problem too. Consider for instance in the military, an army is subject to logistics, perhaps by air, so you just cannot tote around “tons of pounds” of tools everywhere. And if one were in an off world colony, you could do that either. I mean think about the cost per pound to get something into orbit – it’s like $5,000 per pound. No wonder they want astronauts to lose weight?
And, recently I was talking to an acquaintance who runs a pool company – he does repairs on pools and spas, and I said to him; “think of your own business, you have to take a tool box with you will all sorts of tools? But why? What if the fasteners, nuts, bolts, cables, clamps, etc, – could be tightened, removed, installed without tools? Why not?”
You see the Germans in WWII with their Messerschmitt 262s were able to remove and replace the jet engine in a couple of hours, because they made everything much easier. And speaking of aviation, I was helping a friend of mine do his annual inspection and we unloosened all the check points, my gosh it took forever and a day, and it took tools, but way, just to open up inspection holes so an airframe and power plant aircraft mechanic could look in for a second or two? socket head cap screws
Not only does it make sense for those types of things but, this would save time hunting for the right tool, save cost in buying all those tools, and for the backs of our workforce carrying tool boxes around just to work on small items, especially my friend the pool guy who works on pumps and equipment all day. Why not have attachment points with mini-levers which self-tightened or loosened when you used your hand to get them started?
Zeus Fasteners are one type solution, but someone needs to come up with a better concept, this is why I’ve pushed forth to have our think tank think on this.
YK
alexjames