Re: [AMC-list] I had to send it (Whitworth sockets)

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

I had to look it up, then got confused when they looked the same as normal sockets, even the sizes!! So I checked Wikipedia to discover the difference. So Whitworths can be used with regular bolts and nuts for the most part, but the size markings are screwy! The sockets are marked by bolt diameter, not by the distance between the flats. A 1/4" bolt uses a 1/4" Whitworth socket, not a 7/16" socket (size of the typical head), even if the Whitworth bolt head is 7/16" too (which it may not be -- don't know the standard for making the heads!). Thread pitch is different from standard US and metric bolts too, so if you have Whitworth standard bolts you have to have Whitworth standard nuts or threaded holes. 

According to this chart (http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~psc/spanner_jaw.html -- scroll down near bottom for chart) the Whitworth heads correspond to nothing in US (AF -- across flats) or metric heads, but then metric and US don't match perfectly either. There are a couple that I know are "close enough to work" -- i.e. 13mm is 0.012" bigger than  1/2" US), and a few Whitworth are close enough (within 0.020") for either a metric or US standard, but figuring out which ones would be a nightmare!! I didn't know Mets used Whitworth fasteners...


------------
also occurred to me to wonder how many folks these days have any idea
what the **** 'whitworth sockets' are...  though i'm sure any met
owners here do!
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay        

--
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
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