Archive

Tag: Tweezers

Tweezers are tools used for picking up objects too small to be easily handled with the human hands. They are probably derived from tongs, pincers, or scissors-like pliers used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history. In a scientific or medical context they are normally referred to as forceps. Tweezers make use of two third-class levers connected at one fixed end (the fulcrum point of each lever), with the pincers at the others. Tweezers can be used for tasks such as plucking hair from the face or eyebrows, and whenever small objects have to be manipulated, including for example small, particularly surface-mount, electronic parts, and small mechanical parts for models and precision mechanisms. Stamp collectors use tweezers (stamp tongs) to handle postage stamps which, while large enough to pick up by hand, could be damaged by handling; the jaws of stamp tongs are smooth. One example of a specialised use is picking out flakes of gold in gold panning. It also used…