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Now this is odd...

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Sarastro

Sarastro

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I got this screw at a place that sells surplus fasteners and other hardware by the pound. For those who are in the LA area, it's Cal Aero Supply on Paramount Blvd just south of the 105 freeway.

This looks like an ordinary 1/4-20, phillips head screw. But when I tried to put a nut on it, the nut would not go on, because the threads are circular, not helical. That is, they're just rings spaced uniformly along its length. I you put a fingernail between two threads, and turn the screw, your nail will stay in the same place.

Wondering if anyone has seen something like this before, and what it could be used for. It's totally new to me.

bolt.jpg
 
Wonder if it’s a manufacturing defect that they got a good price on and were not made aware of the defect?
Other than that maybe get a tap for circular threads :LOL:
 
annular ring anchor bolt?
 
I thought of something like you're suggesting, but then, why the phillips head? That implies that it would be screwed into something. Probably, as Elliot suggests, it is an error. I know that threads are formed by rolling the part between two dies, and if the dies were somehow misaligned, that could happen. But I would expect to see something irregular in the threads--these are perfect rings.

Well, this is the kind of thing you get when you buy surplus stuff. I suspect a lot of it is factory seconds, so I don't use that hardware for anything critical.
 
I'll bet that auto repair place "Penn & Teller" could magically
get it to work.
 
Talk about being screwed :eek:
 
Sarastro said:
I got this screw at a place that sells surplus fasteners and other hardware by the pound. For those who are in the LA area, it's Cal Aero Supply on Paramount Blvd just south of the 105 freeway.

This looks like an ordinary 1/4-20, phillips head screw. But when I tried to put a nut on it, the nut would not go on, because the threads are circular, not helical. That is, they're just rings spaced uniformly along its length. I you put a fingernail between two threads, and turn the screw, your nail will stay in the same place.

Wondering if anyone has seen something like this before, and what it could be used for. It's totally new to me.

View attachment 80619
Click to expand...
Were they sold as 1/4"-20 screws? I could see them as what we called "sh1t-house" screws. Look like a conventional fastener but impossible to remove, as they'd be broached into seating. Are the grooves angle-cut in any way? Or ridged toward the head?

Curious in any event.
 
NutmegCT said:
www.aftfasteners.com

3/8" x 4" Sleeve Anchor Flat Head Phillips/Slotted Combo Zinc CR+3 (50/Pkg.)

Find 3/8"x4" Sleeve Anchor Flat Head Phillips/Slotted Combo Zinc CR+3 (50/Pkg.) at AFT Fasteners. We've got the products you need.
www.aftfasteners.com www.aftfasteners.com
Click to expand...
Not the same thing. That's a screw threaded into an expanding sleeve to anchor it into substrate. Removable screw. A broaching fastener would be a one-way device. We've come across a number of "diabolical" fasteners, many made to be proprietary to one company or use. This one appears to be a simple 5mm "reverse Torx" headed screw, but not so. Finding the #9 socket with correct pips to fit it is near-impossible. Computer chassis & components assembled with 'em. Unless you're an "authorized" tech on the equipment they're in, you're, well,... screwed.

R_torx1.jpg

R_torx2.jpg
 
Doc - thanks for the explanation.

Steve - take 'em back for a refund ... or put them on ebay as "Extremely Rare Discobolification Annulators".
 
NutmegCT said:
Steve - take 'em back for a refund ... or put them on ebay as "Extremely Rare Discobolification Annulators".
Click to expand...
Goodness no! I would mount it on a plaque and hang it on the wall - either a gag gift or a conversation piece but, certainly a keeper!

A few years ago I bought this watch

1660752630644.png


If you look at it you will notice that you have to read it from right to left and not left to right - in other words it turns clockwise when it should turn anti-clockwise so, it is right but also wrong - much like your bolt, the story might be better than the product
 
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mikephillips said:
Maybe it's a count down device. How much time before I need to go to bed?? Oh, 2hrs and 12m....
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO: Oh it definitely works - you just have to look a little harder and it is a great looking watch.
 
Sorry, I've been away from this awhile.

The picture of the watch reminded me of this antique, dial phone. My wife and I bought this at a swap meet because it would look good, we thought, in our 1920s-era house.

Look at the dial numbering.

I found a tag inside, indicating that it came from Norway. At the time, I was working with a guy who originally came from Norway, so next time I saw him, I asked him straight out, why Norwegian phones are numbered backward. He looked at me oddly for a moment, and then said, "Oh, yeah, you're right."

The really odd thing is that dialing a 9 gives you one pulse, 8 gives two, and so on. I've no idea why it was done that way.

phone.jpg
 
fascinating - if for no other reason than it is easy to assume that there is only one way to do things.

Not Norway I know but the Sedish telephone tower

1661650401121.png
 
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