Difference between revisions of "Pliers"
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[[image:Vulcanrubens.jpg|thumb|Vulcan forging the Beams of Jupiter. Rubens.]] | [[image:Vulcanrubens.jpg|thumb|Vulcan forging the Beams of Jupiter. Rubens.]] | ||
Revision as of 14:16, 27 October 2008
Pliers. Severely oxidized. Open jawed. Late 20th century, c.e. Exhibited alongside trout, common name given to a number of species of freshwater fish, family: Salmonidae.
Pliers appear in many renaissance paintings during eras of Classicism and its revival. At these times, Pagan deities were no longer worshipped, they were merely fashionable. Here one sees tongs in the hands of blacksmiths in The Forge of Vulcan. (Diego Velasquez. Museo del Prado. Madrid.) His Greek equivalent was ‘'Hephaestus, the son of Hera and Zeus. Hepaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance to the Greeks. He served as the blacksmith of the gods. The center of his cult was Lemnos, but he was worshipped in all of the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, especially Athens, where there is a Temple of Hephaestus, the ‘'Hephaesteum miscalled the "Theseum", located near the Athenian ‘'agora, or marketplace.
On the island of Lemnos, his consort was the sea nymph Cabeiro, by whom he was the father of two metalworking gods named the Cabeiri.
History
Pliers were invented in Europe around 2000 b.c.e. to grip hot objects (principally iron as it was being forged on an anvil). Among the oldest illustrations of pliers are those showing the Greek god Hephaestus in his smithy. Today, pliers intended principally to be used for safely handling hot objects are usually called tongs.
Design
Pliers function by normal (oppositional) force, and leverage (a ‘'fulcrum for mechanical force, or ‘'lever, one of the six simple machines.)
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