Differentiation Between Bolt and Screw
There is no universally accepted distinction between a screw and a bolt. Machinery's Handbook describes the distinction as follows:
A bolt is an externally threaded fastener designed for insertion through holes in assembled parts, and is normally intended to be tightened or released by torquing a nut. A screw is an externally threaded fastener capable of being inserted into holes in assembled parts, of mating with a preformed internal thread or forming its own thread, and of being tightened or released by torquing the head. An externally threaded fastener which is prevented from being turned during assembly and which can be tightened or released only by torquing a nut is a bolt. (Example: round head bolts, track bolts, plow bolts.) An externally threaded fastener that has thread form which prohibits assembly with a nut having a straight thread of multiple pitch length is a screw. (Example: wood screws, tapping screws.)This distinction is consistent with ASME B18.2.1 and some dictionary definitions for screw and bolt.
The issue of what is a screw and what is a bolt is not completely resolved with Machinery's Handbook distinction, however, because of confounding terms, the ambiguous nature of some parts of the distinction, and usage variations. Some of these issues are discussed below:
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Famous quotes containing the words bolt and/or screw:
“May I in my brief bolt across the scene
Not be misunderstood in what I mean.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Oh come home soon, I write to her.
Go screw yourself, is her answer.
Now what is that, for Christian word?
I hope she feeds on dried goose turd.”
—Robert Creeley (b. 1926)