Crowbar

A common hand tool, the crowbar is typically made of medium-carbon steel, possibly hardened on its ends. Commonly crowbars are forged from long steel stock, either hexagonal or sometimes cylindrical. Alternative designs may be forged with a rounded I-shaped cross-section shaft. Versions using relatively wide flat steel bar are often referred to as "utility" or "flat bars". ==Etymology and usage==

The accepted etymology identifies the first component of the word crowbar with the bird-name "crow", perhaps due to the crowbar's resemblance to the feet or beak of a crow. The first use of the term is dated back to . It was also called simply a crow, or iron crow; William Shakespeare used the latter, as in Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 2: "Get me an iron crow and bring it straight unto my cell." In Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist lacks a pickaxe so uses a crowbar instead: "As for the pickaxe, I made use of the iron crows, which were proper enough, though heavy." ==Types==

Types of crowbar include: • Alignment pry bar, also referred to as Sleeve bar • Cat’s claw pry bar, more simply known as a cat's paw • Digging pry bar • Flat pry bar • Gooseneck pry bar • Heavy-duty pry bar • Molding pry bar • Rolling head pry bar ==See also==