fastener

1 a person who fastens or makes fast; "he found the door fastened and wondered who the fastener was"

2 restraint that attaches to something or holds something in place [syn: fastening, holdfast, fixing]

English

Etymology

-er fasten

Noun

1. something or someone that fastens
2. mechanically, any device that fastens; especially, a collective term for items such as screws, nuts, washers, bolts and the like

Translations

• French: fermeture , attache

A fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together.

Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container, etc. There are also special purpose closing devices, e.g. a bread clip. Fasteners used in these manners are often temporary, in that they may be fastened and unfastened repeatedly.

Some types of woodworking joints make use of separate internal reinforcements, such as dowels or biscuits, which in a sense can be considered fasteners within the scope of the joint system, although on their own they are not general purpose fasteners.

Furniture supplied in flat-pack form often uses cam dowels locked by cam locks, also known as conformat fasteners.

Items like a rope, string, wire (e.g. metal wire, possibly coated with plastic, or multiple parallel wires kept together by a plastic strip coating), cable, chain, or plastic wrap may be used to mechanically join objects; but are not generally categorized as fasteners because they have additional common uses. Likewise hinges and springs may join objects together, but are ordinarily not considered a fasteners because their primary purpose is to allow articulation rather than rigid affixment.

Other alternative methods of joining materials include crimping, welding, soldering, brazing, taping, gluing, cementing, or the use of other adhesives. The use of force may also be used, such as with magnets, vacuum (like suction cups), or even friction.

Fastener types

• batten
• bolt, screw, cap screw, stud
• brass fastener
• buckle
• button
• clamp (or cramp)
• clasp
  • Bocklebee clasp
• clip
  • circlip
  • paper clip
• frog
• grommet
• nail
• peg
• pin
  • clevis pin
  • clothes-pin
  • cotter pin
• retaining ring
  • external circlip
  • internal circlip
  • e-ring
• rivet
• rubber band (or bands of other materials)
• screw
• screw anchor
• snap
• stitches
• strap
• staple
• tack
• tie
• toggle
• Velcro brand hook-and-loop strips
• wedge anchor
• zipper

See also

• Helicoil
• Safety wire

adhesive, affixation, anchor, annexation, attachment, band, bandage, bar, barrette, bellyband, belt, bind, binding, binding stone, binding twine, bobby pin, bollard, bolt, bond, bonder, bondstone, box hook, brace, braces, brad, braid, buckle, button, cable, carpet tack, catch, chain, cinch, cincture, clamp, clasp, clasping, cleat, click, clinch, clip, clothespin, corking pin, cotter, dowel, fastening, fibula, fillet, fishhook, funiculus, garter, girding, girdle, girth, grab, grapnel, grappler, grappling iron, guy, hairpin, hank, hasp, hawser, haywire, hitch, hitching post, holdfast, hook, hook and eye, hooking, inkle, interlocker, kevel, kingpin, knot, lace, lacing, lariat, lashing, latch, latchet, leader, ligament, ligation, line, lock, loop, moorings, nail, noose, nut, padlock, paper clip, pawl, peg, pin, pintle, ring, rivet, roller, rope, safety pin, screw, seal, sennit, setscrew, skewer, slide fastener, snap, snubbing post, spike, splice, staple, sticking, strap, string, strop, stub tenon, suspenders, tack, tag, tendon, terret, thole, tholepin, thong, thumbtack, tie, tie beam, tieing, toggle, treenail, tug, twine, vise, whang, wire, zipper, zipping