Crowbar_(tool)

A crowbar (Version shown does not have the flat end referred to in the text.)

A crowbar, pry bar, or prybar, more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar^{[citation needed]}, or jemmy (British Isles), is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails. In the British Isles, "crowbar" may be used loosely for this tool, but is more commonly used to mean a larger straight tool (see spud bar). The term "jemmy" or "jimmy" most often refers to the tool when used for burglary.

It is used as a lever to either force apart two objects or to remove nails. Crowbars are commonly used to open nailed wooden boxes. Another common use for larger crowbars is general demolition: for removing nails, prying apart boards, and generally smashing things.

Crowbars can be used as any of the three lever classes but the curved end is usually used as a first-class lever, and the flat end as a 2nd class lever.

Materials and construction

Normally made of medium carbon steel, they can be made from titanium also, which has the advantage of being lighter, nonmagnetic, and spark-resistant.

The least expensive, most common crowbars are forged from hexagonal or sometimes cylindrical stock. More advanced, expensive designs often are forged with an I shaped cross sectional shaft similar to an I-beam. This shape makes them more resistant to bending.

Etymology

• There is a popular story that the term crowbar derives from Jim Crow and they were used by blacks to perform menial tasks, and the word thus has racist origins. This is a false etymology; the term crowbar traces to at least 1400; and is not in any sense racist. As they resembled the feet or beaks of a crow, they were first called crow bars; later the two joined into one word.The etymology of crowbar is not in any sense racist They also were called crows; William Shakespeare used the term crow in many placesShakespeare reference, including his written-in-the-1590s play Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, scene ii:

Get me an iron crow and bring it straight.

Unto my cell. ... ^[clarify]

Popular culture

In some computer games a crowbar is the basic mêlée weapon wielded by the player character; this practice appears to have been started in 1998\'s Half-Life.

Examples include:

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
• Deus Ex
• Condemned: Criminal Origins
• Half-Life
• Half-Life 2
• Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
• Manhunt
• Siren
• Urban Dead

Many pieces of zombie-related fiction, such as Max Brooks\' The Zombie Survival Guide, make special note of the crowbar as perhaps the best all-around mêlée weapon—not only does it make a useful tool, but it is light enough to be carried and wielded quickly and is also heavy and durable enough to deal an effective blow, with a pointed end capable of penetrating a skull. As zombies traditionally cease function when the brain is destroyed, this is extremely important in combat against them.

In the videogames:

• Tomb Raider III
• Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
• Tomb Raider Chronicles
• Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness

The crowbar is used to break padlocks

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia