A flexible shaft is a device for transmitting rotary motion between two objects which are not fixed relative to one another. It consists of a rotating wire rope or coil which is flexible but has some torsional stiffness. It may or may not have a covering, which also bends but does not rotate. It may transmit considerable power, or only motion, with negligible power.
Flexible shafts are commonly used in plumber's snakes. They are popular accessories for handheld rotary tools, and integral parts of rotary tools with a remote motor, which are called "flexible shaft tools". They are used to transmit power to some sheep shears. They are also sold to connect panel knobs to remote potentiometers or other variable electronic components. Flexible shaft tools are used frequently in the dental and jewelry industry, as well as other industrial applications.
Famous quotes containing the words flexible and/or shaft:
“Freedom is the essence of this faith. It has for its object simply to make men good and wise. Its institutions then should be as flexible as the wants of men. That form out of which the life and suitableness have departed should be as worthless in its eyes as the dead leaves that are falling around us.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Lord, crack their teeth! Lord, crush these lions’ jaws!
So let them sink as water in the sand;
When deadly bow their aiming fury draws,
Shiver the shaft ere past the shooter’s hand.
So make them melt as the dishoused snail”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm LVIII (Paraphrased by the Countess of Pembroke)