A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially gooseneck, or pig bar, or in Britain and Australia a jemmy or jimmy (also called jemmy bar),[1] is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, used to force two objects apart or gain mechanical advantage in lifting; often the curved end has a notch for removing nails.
A crowbar with a curved chisel end to provide a fulcrum for leverage and a goose neck to pull nails
The design can be used as any of the three lever classes. The curved end is usually used as a first-class lever, and the flat end as a second-class lever.
Designs made from thick flat steel bar are often referred to as utility bars.
A common hand tool, the crow bar is typically made of medium-carbon steel, possibly hardened on its ends.
Commonly crowbars are forged from long steel stock, either hexagonal or sometimes cylindrical. Alternative designs may be forged with a rounded I-shaped cross-section shaft. Versions using relatively wide flat steel bar are often referred to as "utility" or "flat bars".
Etymology and usageedit
The accepted etymology[2][3] identifies the first component of the word crowbar with the bird-name "crow", perhaps due to the crowbar's resemblance to the feet or beak of a crow. The first use of the term is dated back to c. 1400.[4] It was also called simply a crow, or iron crow; William Shakespeare used the latter,[5] as in Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 2: "Get me an iron crow and bring it straight unto my cell."
In Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist lacks a pickaxe so uses a crowbar instead: "As for the pickaxe, I made use of the iron crows, which were proper enough, though heavy."
crowbar, this, article, about, tool, other, uses, disambiguation, jemmy, redirects, here, other, uses, jemmy, disambiguation, wrecking, redirects, here, long, handled, socket, wrench, breaker, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, . This article is about the tool For other uses see Crowbar disambiguation Jemmy redirects here For other uses see Jemmy disambiguation Wrecking bar redirects here For the long handled socket wrench see Breaker bar This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Crowbar news newspapers books scholar JSTOR November 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message A crowbar also called a wrecking bar pry bar or prybar pinch bar or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar colloquially gooseneck or pig bar or in Britain and Australia a jemmy or jimmy also called jemmy bar 1 is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points used to force two objects apart or gain mechanical advantage in lifting often the curved end has a notch for removing nails A crowbar with a curved chisel end to provide a fulcrum for leverage and a goose neck to pull nails The design can be used as any of the three lever classes The curved end is usually used as a first class lever and the flat end as a second class lever Designs made from thick flat steel bar are often referred to as utility bars Contents 1 Materials and construction 2 Etymology and usage 3 Types 4 See also 5 ReferencesMaterials and construction editA common hand tool the crow bar is typically made of medium carbon steel possibly hardened on its ends Commonly crowbars are forged from long steel stock either hexagonal or sometimes cylindrical Alternative designs may be forged with a rounded I shaped cross section shaft Versions using relatively wide flat steel bar are often referred to as utility or flat bars Etymology and usage editThe accepted etymology 2 3 identifies the first component of the word crowbar with the bird name crow perhaps due to the crowbar s resemblance to the feet or beak of a crow The first use of the term is dated back to c 1400 4 It was also called simply a crow or iron crow William Shakespeare used the latter 5 as in Romeo and Juliet Act 5 Scene 2 Get me an iron crow and bring it straight unto my cell In Daniel Defoe s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe the protagonist lacks a pickaxe so uses a crowbar instead As for the pickaxe I made use of the iron crows which were proper enough though heavy Types editTypes of crowbar include 6 Alignment pry bar also referred to as Sleeve bar Cat s claw pry bar more simply known as a cat s paw Digging pry bar Flat pry bar Gooseneck pry bar Heavy duty pry bar Molding pry bar Rolling head pry barSee also editHalligan bar Kinetic energy penetrator Tire ironReferences edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crowbars Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press 1989 pp jimmy 1 n 6 ISBN 978 0 19 861186 8 OED crow bar crow sense 5a AHD crow Archived 2008 03 12 at the Wayback Machine Snopes crowbar No Fear Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Act 5 Scene 2 www sparknotes com What is a Pry Bar and What Are They Used For Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Crowbar amp oldid 1219668370, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
