Clamp (tool)

A clamp is a fastening device to hold or secure objects tightly together to prevent movement or separation through the application of inward pressure. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term cramp is often used instead when the tool is for temporary use for positioning components during construction and woodworking; thus a G cramp or a sash cramp but a wheel clamp or a surgical clamp.

Types of clamps

There are many types of clamps available for many different purposes. Some are temporary, as used to position components while fixing them together, others are intended to be permanent. Anything which performs the action of clamping may be called a clamp, so this gives rise to a wide variety of terms across many fields. These are some of the more common ones:

Temporary

Clamps.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A selection of woodworking clamps. Top: Pipe clamp; 2nd row from top: F-clamp or bar clamp, one-handed bar clamp ("Quick Grip"), wooden handscrew; 3rd row: spring clamp, G-clamp (C-clamp), wooden cam clamp.]] These clamps (or cramps) are used to position components temporarily for various tasks (see picture for some examples):

Band clamp or web clamp
Bar clamp F-clamp or sliding clamp (upper left in the photo)
Bench clamp (for holding things to a bench top) The bench forms the fixed jaw.
G clamp (lower centre in the photo)
Gripe (a specialized clamp, tightened with a wedge, for holding strakes in position when building a clinker boat)
Handscrew (upper right in the photo)
Magnetic clamp
Mitre clamp
Pipe clamp (top of photo)
Sash clamp (a specialized, long form of the bar clamp)
Set screw
Speed clamp
Toggle clamp
Toolmakers' clamp (a smaller, precision version of the handscrew, all in steel)

Permanent

Hose clamp

Medical Clamps

Other

Reference

Patrick Spielman (1986). Gluing and Clamping: A Woodworker’s Handbook. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 0-8069-6274-7

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