NAVSEA -

New Labor Saving Device for Sailors

By NAVSEA Public Affairs, used with permission.

..........................................................

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. - Imagine a Sailor, struggling to tighten down engine bolts with a sledgehammer, a stud heater or a hydraulic wrench to attain the more than 2,000 lbs. of torque needed to secure a small bolt.

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) not only imagined this scenario but also knows that it exists in the Fleet. So, NAVSEA's Maintenance Process Improvement Team (SEA 05N) took on the problem and came up with a solution.

Now imagine that the same Sailor can use a standard torque wrench to secure that same bolt with only about 25 lbs. of tightening torque. To the rescue is a multijack bolt tensioner, a unique, new labor-saving device for the Fleet.

Vernon Parrish, NAVSEA's program manager for Engineering for Reduced Maintenance (ERM) says that this "Incredible Hulk of bolts" is an extraordinary device that will immediately have a positive effect in the Fleet. "It is one of the crown jewels of this particular project of the ERM program," says Parrish. "I really feel it will revolutionize a difficult and time consuming job for our Sailors. It's safe, fast, precise, economical and, best of all, for installation, it only requires the use of standard hand tools. How easy can it get?"

So what is it about this "Incredible Hulk of bolts?" Actually, these commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) replacements for hex nuts are quite ingenious. As described by the manufacturer, a tension ring is threaded onto a stud with a series of smaller jackbolts placed around it, and threaded through the tensioning ring and a hardened washer. The hardened washer is placed over the stud first, and then the tensioner is threaded onto it for positioning. With this completed, a simple turn of a hand-held torque wrench will securely tighten the jackbolts.

Already, the multijack bolt tensioner has been approved for a variety of applications. They include use on reboiler heads and main guarding valve strainer covers on aircraft carriers, main engine snubbers on guided-missle destroyers, and shaft seal housings and 3-inch launchers on submarines.

By the end of this current fiscal year, NAVSEA anticipates that other uses on surface units and submarines will also be approved.

The multijack bolt tensioner is just one of the new technologies being developed and/or approved by NAVSEA's Maintenance Process Improvement Team. More information about maintenance innovations and initiatives is available on the NAVSEA maintenance website...