14 DAY TRIAL // Technology and scientific discoveries seem to increase progressively as time goes by. A lot of efforts are being made so that everything gets easier, faster and smarter. Based on this logic, even regular bolts get smarter. As such, the Smartbolt (surprisingly called so) is able to help you save your unnecessary efforts and perform other tasks, perhaps helping science and technology get even smarter.
The latest statistics indicate that the vast majority of structural failures occur because of the inappropriate tightening of the bolts. Now, it is almost common knowledge among engineers that tightening a bolt until it achieves the proper tension is just as important as picking the right bolt for the task. Also, it is largely acknowledged that the current tightening techniques are either hardly reliable or pretty costly, and sometimes even both.
This is why Ajax Fasteners, an Australian company which counts among the world's greatest manufacturers of high-quality industrial and automotive fasteners, developed Smartbolt. The bolt is provided with a small indicator led-like disk on its top which tells you how tight it is and shows whether you should continue tightening it or not. Contrary to what you may believe, the small device is not an intricate network of wires and electronics.
The only (very important) thing that separates Smartbolt from its regular counterparts is the tiny visual tension indicator that is normally red when tension is zero, meaning the bolt is not used. Then, when it is put in place and operated, it progressively turns black as tension increases. Actually, its more precise version turns from yellow to green until it reaches 90% of the maximum tension, then it rapidly fades to black over the remaining 10%. This invention comes in handy for a wide range of situations, including tight places where you can't be really sure whether you tightened the bolts appropriately.