Metric Fasteners image courtesy of Hercules Fasteners.

The United States is a great place in a many ways, but man oh man can it be an uncompromising and arrogant old coot of a country— no, I’m not talking about politics, wars or waistlines; I’m talking about that age-old pickle regarding measurement and our unreasonable refusal to adapt to the easily understood metric system like everyone else in the world. The metric system started making a name for itself in the late 1700s and managed to catch on almost entirely. The heart of the metric system lies in its correlation with and use of powers of tens, making it both accessible to the common man as well as attractive to the scientist and engineer. In fact, the French philosopher Condorcet spoke well of it, writing that it was a system “for all people for all time”, and fought hard, among many others, for its initiation. Despite such advocacy, though, the metric system failed to woo the stubborn Americans and continues to be a point of contention between the United States and the rest of the world.

Metric fasteners are fasteners that have been measured according to the metric system— that detail aside, there are no other significant differing characteristics between metric and non-metric fasteners and both are tools used to join and secure materials, as well as various levels of specificity, beginning with threaded and non-threaded fasteners. Threaded fasteners, such as nuts, bolts and screws, are designed with spiral ridges along the shaft for which to better attach themselves to the adjoining materials. The thread on metric threaded fasteners is also measured and cut according the metric system and generally can only be used with a corresponding metric drill, etc. The shafts on non-threaded fasteners, like rivets, ring and pins, remain straight and smooth and can be easily assembled and removed, as they do not require additional industrial hardware.