Rivet
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Riveted_buffer_beam.jpg
A rivet is a mechanical fastener consisting of a smooth cylindrical shaft with heads on either end, the second one formed in position. The heads are somewhat larger than the diameter of the hole into which the rivet has been inserted. Generally one head is factory formed. The other is formed by clenching metal after the rivet has been inserted.
This can be done with a solid rivet), either by applying force by holding up the head end with a dolly and clenching the other with a manual or a pneumatic hammer or with a die over the end to be clenched, by squeezing rivet and work together with a press. Portable presses for the job are usually pneumatic.
Blind rivets are tubular and are supplied with a mandrel through the centre. The rivet assembly is inserted into a hole drilled through the parts to be joined and a specially designed tool used to draw the mandrel into the rivet. This expands the blind end of the rivet and the mandrel snaps. This gives the rivets their common name of pop rivet. (See blind rivet)
There are a number of types of rivets: solid rivets, blind rivets, multi-grip rivets, grooved type rivets, Peel Type Blind Rivets, plastic rivets, drive rivets, tubular rivets, etc. Fastenings used in traditional wooden boat building like copper nails and clench bolts work on the principle of the rivet but they were in use long before the term rivet was invented. So, where they are remembered, they are usually classified among the nails and bolts respectively.
Before welding techniques and bolted joints were developed, metal framed buildings and structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge were generally held together by riveting. Riveting is still widely used in applications where light weight and high strength are critical, such as in airplanes.
Common but more exotic uses of rivets are to reinforce jeans and to produce the distinctive sound of a sizzle cymbal.