Crowbar (tool)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A crowbar, also called a pry bar or prybar, is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on the curved end for removing nails. It is used as a lever to either force apart two objects or to remove nails. Crowbars are commonly used to open nailed wooden boxes. Another common use for larger crowbars is general demolition: for removing nails, prying apart boards, and generally smashing things.
Crowbars can be used as any of the three lever classes but are generally used as a 1st or 2nd class lever.
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[edit] Materials and construction
Normally made of medium carbon steel, they can be made from titanium also, which has the advantage of being lighter, nonmagnetic, and spark resistant.
The least expensive, most common crowbars are forged from hexagonal stock. More advanced, expensive designs often are forged with an I shaped cross sectional shaft similar to an I-beam. This shape makes them more resistant to bending. The titanium crowbars mentioned above have a round bent shaft.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Some popular crowbars are not true crowbars
The most common kind of "crowbar" (ie - either one or two hooked ends) is not actually a true crowbar, But instead a variety of crowbar called a "wrecking bar" - a true crowbar is actually a long, straight bar with a point or wedge shape at the end.
[edit] On the etymology of the term crowbar
There is a popular story that the term crowbar derives from Jim Crow and they were used by blacks to perform menial tasks, and the word thus has racist origins. This is a false etymology; the term crowbar traces to at least 1400; and is not in any sense racist. As they resembled the feet or beaks of a crow, they were first called crow bars; later the two joined into one word. They also were called crows; William Shakespeare used the term crow in many places, including his written-in-the-1590s play Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, scene ii:
- Get me an iron crow and bring it straight.
- Unto my cell. ...
[edit] Popular culture
In some computer games a crowbar is the basic mêlée weapon wielded by the player's character, most famously Gordon Freeman from Half-Life and its sequels, in which it is his signature weapon. Other notable examples include:
Many pieces of zombie-related fiction, such as Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide, make special note of the crowbar as perhaps the best all-around mêlée weapon—not only does it make a useful tool, but it is light enough to be carried and wielded quickly and is also heavy and durable enough to deal an effective blow, with a pointed end capable of penetrating a skull.
