With tools: Is there some defining characteristic that makes something a wrench rather than a driver?
As in pipe, socket, hex, allen, combination and impact wrenches, etc. as opposed to screwdrivers, nut drivers and impact drivers, etc.
Is it the torque plus the gripping?
Is that what defines the difference between an impact driver and an impact wrench, for example?
Is a ratcheting screwdriver, that works by ratcheting, of course, like a socket wrench, not a “screw wrench” because it has the torque but not the gripping that a socket wrench has?
If you made a nut driver with a t-handle, like an Allen wrench, would it then be a “nut wrench” instead of a “nut driver”?
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I’m no expert, but I’ll try to answer anyway. I think a wrench fits around the outside of a bolt (or nut, or whatever), and a driver fits inside a specially-shaped hole, like in a screw-head. Of course in that case an allen-wrench is really a driver… but with the torque of a wrench. Hmm. Maybe in some cases there’s no clear division and/or it’s just a matter of semantics?!?
Now you’ve got me wondering!
@Anemone And the business end of a nut driver fits around the outside of the nut, rather than into a specially shaped hole like an Allen wrench or a screwdriver. It’s the Allen/hex wrench/nut driver think that got me thinking about this. It really seems like it should be a driver, the Allen wrench that is, not a wrench. But if the t- or l- shape of the Allen or hex provides torque then maybe they are wrenches, but if they don’t provide grip, and are just inserted into a specially designed hole as you point out, they should be drivers, not wrenches, I think. I don’t know, that’s why I asked the question. Is is just semantics, just traditional names and labels or is there really a defining characteristic that makes something a wrench as opposed to a driver, or a driver as opposed to a wrench?
I would have to say a wrench is a handled tool that fits to a fastener crossways @ 90 degrees and a driver sits down on the fastener straight up. Drivers are apt to be used in power tools like drills or inserted in handles similar to manual screwdriver.
@woodcutter And where does the Allen wrench fit into that scheme?
@lillycoyote well actually allen wrenches are often referred to as allen keys or hex keys so it seems there might be another class of tool descriptor altogether. “Allen” I believe is a brand name that is now the catch-all term for all 6 sided drivers. I would guess that because many hex keys have a 90 degree bend in them they get placed in the wrench family and it just stuck.
@woodcutter Yes, Allen is a brand name, but it’s kind of like Kleenex, Xerox and Post-Its. It’s brand name that is intimately associated with and came to be kind of the generic name for a particular type of thing/product. And yes, you’re right, now that I think of it, I have heard at least hex wrenches described as keys. Who knows. Maybe there isn’t some defining characteristic, that separates the wrench from the driver, it’s just a matter of one or the other being traditionally given one name over another
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