Dyke

Dyke or dike may refer to:

Names

Places

Settlements

Earthworks

Diagonal pliers

Diagonal pliers (or side cutters or wire cutters or diagonal cutting pliers or diagonal cutters) are pliers intended for the cutting of wire (they are generally not used to grab or turn anything). The plane defined by the cutting edges of the jaws intersects the joint rivet at an angle or "on a diagonal", hence the name.

Action

Instead of using a shearing action as with scissors, diagonal pliers cut by indenting and wedging the wire apart. The jaw edges are ground to a symmetrical "V" shape, thus the two jaws can be visualized to form the letter "X", as seen end-on when fully occluded. The pliers are made of tempered steel, and inductive heating and quenching are often used to selectively harden the jaws.

Jargon

Diags or Dikes (a portmanteau of "Diagonal CutterS" is pronounced "dikes") – as in the phrase "a pair of dikes" or "hand me those dikes" – is jargon used especially in the electrical industry, to describe diagonal pliers. Dike can also be used as a verb, such as in the idiom "when in doubt, dike it out".

Dyke (automobile company)

Established in St.Louis in 1899 by A.L.Dyke (Andrew Lee Dyke), Dyke was the first American auto parts business. Dyke also sold early autos, kit car or assembled. In addition to the Dyke name, the company also sold automobiles under the St. Louis (St. Louis Motor Company) and Dyke-Britton names.

References