nuts II

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

In response to my screed on the subject of
backwards-handed lug nuts, Brian Shorey sez: 

"I thought that the purpose of the directional lug
nuts was a tendency to resist loosening up.  Anybody? 
Anybody?"

Yes, indeed. Similarly, some shipbuilders used to
paint eyes on the bows of their boats so's to help
them find their way to port...okay, there *was* a bit
more science to the lug nut thing, but (and please
understand that I'm an art guy, not an engineer) I
have a hard time imagining that the actual rotational
forces acting on the periphery of any given lug nut
under any likely condition of acceleration or
deceleration would be of a high enough order to
unscrew a properly tightened one.

I will concede that IMproperly tightened nuts can and
do come off - I remember well my first Mini's butt
making a little twitch to the right, then seeing a
wheel bounding merrily by, followed shortly by a lot
of,"I thought YOU'D tightened them1" "Well, YOU had
the wrench!" But if you're that much of a moron you
deserve to have your damn wheel fall off...

Nevertheless, and seriously, wasn't there some
discussion here about lug nut materials having varied
over the years? I could imagine that given the
stiffness of early-'60s radial tires, the engineers
might have been concerned that a sharp blow to a
radial-shod steel wheel (from, say, hitting a big
rock) might knock loose a steel nut on a steel stud,
as per the de-jointing technique Jay Mackro was
telling us about. I know we have a goodly complement
of both historians and engineers here - any of them
want to comment?

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
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