We use ratchets in our everyday life without giving them a second thought.

Probably the most obvious everyday ratchet is the cable tie, with its line of teeth that mean the tie can only be pulled tight and never loosened. Ratchets let commuters through turnstiles.  They stop roller-coasters rolling backwards; they lock handcuffs.

The clicking sound you hear as you wind up a hand-wound watch is the pawl clicking against each tooth of a ratchet wheel.

Put simply, they allow movement in one direction only. Try going the other way, and the ratchet is locked tight.

For many, the word ‘ratchet’ is synonymous with the socket wrench. The first ratcheted socket wrench was invented by JJ Richardson in America in 1863, in response to a competition run by Scientific American magazine to encourage new inventions.

(If you have some spare change hanging around, you could buy yourself one of Richardson’s original US Civil War era ratchet socket wrenches - selling on Ebay for a cool £1,500…)

A basic ratchet has two main parts. The first is a round gear or linear rack, with teeth cut out of it which make sure movement only happens in a single direction.

The pawl, or ‘click’, makes contact with these teeth. The pawl can slide over the teeth one way, but cannot return the other.

Ratchet handles are perfect for small spaces. If there is no room within your equipment for a handle to fully rotate, the ratchet allows you to tighten a fastener in tiny increments as many turns as you need. You can turn the handle back without loosening the fastener, and keep doing this over and over until the right tightness is achieved.

And by making sure that the operator only uses the right amount of force needed to make the required adjustments, ratchets can also protect the machinery they serve.

At Nexus, we stock a range of ratchet handles imported from the ratchet’s homeland - America. EHC - The Electronic Hardware Corporation - of New York is currently manufacturing the largest variety of control knobs available worldwide.
The EHC Clamping handle range includes the adjustable ergonomic ratchet handle, the adjustable plastic handle series, and the Adjustable Metal Ratchet Handle series.

The metal ratchet handles are a heavy duty die-cast zinc plated steel handle, allowing maximum torque to be applied.

They’re ideal for limited clamping spaces or specific lever positions, and like all Nexus-supplied components, they come in a range of sizes and options.

Operated by a simple lift-and-rotate action, the handle can be easily disengaged by lifting and moving to the right place location to get the level of clamping required. The handle is spring loaded - so when it is released it will reengage for tightening.

Handles are supplied with a plastic cap, to give the operator insulation from electricity.

You can see the Nexus range of EHC ratchet handles here  http://nexuscomponents.co.uk/Products/Control-Knobs/Ratchet-Handles

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