![]() A short pipe fitting having an FIP thread at both ends is sometimes called a coupling. For example:Ī short length of pipe having an MIP thread at both ends is sometimes called a nipple. In plumbing fittings, the "M" or "F" usually comes at the beginning rather than the end of the abbreviated designation. Main article: Threaded pipe Left: A male threaded pipe, Kapla or KEVA planks are extremely simple genderless systems interconnected only by gravity. Lincoln logs use a very simple form of genderless connections. Stickle bricks, using interlocking plastic protrusions, are effectively genderless. Meccano and Erector have many gendered connections, starting with the nut-and-bolt fasteners they use frequently. įor example, the canonical LEGO plastic blocks have "female" indentations on the lower surface, and "male" bosses or protrusions on the upper surfaces. Mathematicians have begun to classify well-known construction sets using group theory to study the combinatoric possibilities of structures that can be built. This should not be surprising, since these toys feature the nearly infinite flexibility and versatility of shape that a modular interconnect architecture can enable. Modular construction toys Lego toy brick connections are male on top, and female underneathĪlthough this aspect is not highlighted in their promotional literature, several common construction toys embody gendered (and in some cases, genderless) mechanical interconnections. Mechanical fasteners Female nut threaded onto a male bolt If the furrowed surface be convex, 'tis called a Male Screw if concave, a Female and where Motion is to be generated, the Male and Female are always join'd. A 1736 builder's manual mentions screw genders as metaphors for convex and concave shapes: ![]() 18th-century dictionaries and encyclopedias mention male and female screws or cochleae.This is owing to a prohibition on a female shaft, from its susceptibility as a receptacle for impurity, for use as s'chach a prong on a male arrow head fits into a hollowed out shaft and vice versa. The Talmud describes arrow heads and mating shafts as potentially being either male or female, depending on their construction, i.e.air gaps or one-way check valves), and not through male-female gender schemes.Įarly mentions of the metaphor Universal Etymological English Dictionary mentioning male and female screws in 1731 In plumbing situations where one-way flow is desired, it is implemented through other means (e.g. Flows through piping networks can be bidirectional, as in underground water distribution networks which have designed-in redundancy. In other contexts, such as plumbing, one-way flow is not enforced through connector gender assignment. This is an example where male and female connectors have been deliberately designed and assigned to physically enforce a safe network topology. In terms of mathematical graph theory, an electrical power distribution network made up of plugs and sockets is a directed tree, with the directionality arrows corresponding to the female-to-male transfer of electrical power through each mated connection. This gender distinction is implemented to enhance safety or ensure proper functionality by preventing unsafe or non-functional configurations from being set up. a flow of power from one device to another). In some cases (notably electrical power connectors), the gender of connectors is selected according to rigid rules, to enforce a sense of one-way directionality (e.g. Extension of the analogy results in the verb to mate being used to describe the process of connecting two corresponding parts together. The assignment is a direct analogy with male/female genitalia, the part bearing one or more protrusions or which fits inside the other being designated male, in contrast to the part containing the corresponding indentations, or fitting outside the other, being designated female. In some cases, the pins on the connector may have the opposite nominal gender to the mounted connector, such as the RCA connector. Sometimes the terms plug and socket or jack are used, particularly in reference to electrical connectors. ![]() The female connector is generally a receptacle that receives and holds the male connector. In electrical and mechanical trades and manufacturing, each half of a pair of mating connectors or fasteners is conventionally assigned the designation male or female. Schematic symbols for male and female connector pins JSTOR ( January 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Gender of connectors and fasteners" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. ![]() This article needs additional citations for verification.
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