The guy who wrote the article apparently STILL doesn't know anything about
cars! Left hand lug nuts or bolts are always on the left side, not because
of normal direction of rotation loosening the nuts, but because of braking
tending to do so. This was very common on many european cars, especially
upmarket ones, from the 20's into the 70's. I learned about them on a 1963
Alfa Romeo I owned. I remember a friend telling me how he'd watched a
thief in Malta (near Italy) tightening the nuts on one wheel on his
Armstrong-Siddeley (not too many of those around today), so he walked out
to tell the guy he needed to try leaning the other way...... apparently
the thief jumped out of his skin and ran away leaving a really nice lug
wrench behind that my friend still had 30 years later.
So now I ask if anyone knows why thread direction is normally right hand?
(You might send the kids to bed here). The concept of the screw is
derived from nature. The penis of a boar is threaded like a corkscrew
(helically), and the sow's vagina is a matching female thread. No doubt
thousands of years ago this was noted by some curious guy with a mechanical
knack who adapted the idea. I am NOT making this up! Our word "screw" is
derived directly from the latin word "scrofa" for a sow. Needless to say
the pig's penis and vagina have a right hand thread, and so that's still
the universal norm. Screwy, huh!
Bob O., Oregon
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