In theatre , the master electrician (or chief electrician in the UK) is responsible for implementing the lighting design for a production drawn up by the lighting designer . This involves overseeing the preparation, hanging, connection and focusing of stage lighting fixtures.
15-507: This can be done on a show-by-show basis, or as a resident position of a specific theatre. The tool of the trade of the theatrical master electrician is the adjustable spanner or crescent wrench, used to secure stage lighting instruments from lighting positions in the theatre. This wrench is typically attached to the belt or wrist with a lanyard , which is important because the master electrician tends to work at great height, from ladders , lift tables , catwalks , or lighting trusses , where
30-503: A shifting spanner (Australia and New Zealand) or adjustable wrench (US and Canada), is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head ( nut , bolt , etc.) rather than just one fastener size, as with a conventional fixed spanner. There are many forms of adjustable spanners; many of them are screw -adjusted, whereas others use levers , and some early ones used wedges . The early taper-locking spanners needed
45-468: A Bahco, owing to genericization of the name of the Bahco/Johansson type. In Denmark, this type of spanner is commonly referred to as a "svensknøgle", which basically translates to Swedish key. The Swedes themselves call the key "skiftnyckel", which is translated into adjustable key (shifting key). In Australia, adjustable spanners are also referred to as "shifters". In Spain, this kind of spanner
60-633: A Swedish patent for it. In Canada and the United States, this type is often known as a Crescent wrench owing to widespread genericization of the brand name of the company that held the original 1915 U.S. patent for this type ( U.S. patent 1133236A ), the Crescent Tool Company. (The Crescent brand is now owned by the Apex Tool Group ). As Geesin 2015 documents, the worm-on-rack type (regardless of which terminology
75-587: A falling wrench may hurt people or damage property below. The master electrician supervises and is responsible for all other electricians working on any construction or installation project. Only the master electrician can pull the permits with the electrical authority, and they can only be registered with one electrical contracting company at any one time. Other electrical duties performed by any electrician include: Master electricians go through extensive on-site and classroom training, with work in more formal settings such as schools or colleges. The designation "master"
90-494: A hammer to set the movable jaw to the size of the nut. The modern screw-adjusted spanner and lever types are easily and quickly adjusted. Some adjustable spanners automatically adjust to the size of the nut, using a motor and battery. Simpler models use a serrated edge to lock the movable jaw to size, while more sophisticated versions are digital types that use sheets or feelers to set the size. Geesin (2015) shows that wrenches with screw adjustment of various kinds were well known in
105-472: Is commonly called "llave inglesa", which means literally English key. Remarking the difference with the pipe wrench, also adjustable, in Spain this one is called "grifa", and it does not have any accurate translation. The fixed jaw can withstand bending stress far better than can the movable jaw, because the latter is supported only by the flat surfaces on either side of the guide slot, not the full thickness of
120-514: Is only given to electricians who can display extensive job knowledge and are tested to have an extensive understanding of the electrical safety code. There are no formal certifications of the "theatrical title, master electrician", as there are in some of the more mainstream trades, but in March 2003 ESTA developed a certification process. Those who pass this rigorous test will become ETCP Certified Entertainment Electricians - and will be recognized as
135-513: Is specified. In Australia it is sometimes referred to as a "shifting spanner" or its abbreviated form of "shifter". Monkey wrenches are another type of adjustable spanner with a long history; the origin of the name is not entirely clear, but Geesin reports that it originated in Britain with a fancied resemblance of the wrench's jaws to that of a monkey's face, and that the many convoluted folk etymologies that later developed were baseless. Before
150-572: Is used to name it) was invented in Britain, and later popularized in Scandinavia via the Bahco/Johansson improvement, before its manufacture in the United States was patented. The Bahco/Johansson/Crescent category (regardless of which terminology is used to name it) became so dominant in the 20th century that in North America, the very term adjustable wrench usually elicits the meaning of this type in general usage today, unless another type
165-574: The Bahco/Johansson/Crescent type became widespread in the United States, during the industrial era of the 1860s to the 1910s, various monkey wrench types were the dominant form of adjustable wrench there. Another popular type of adjustable spanner has a base and jaws that form four sides of a hexagon, and is therefore particularly suited for hexagonal nuts ("hex nuts") and hexagonal headed ("hex head") cap screws and bolts. In some parts of Europe, adjustable spanners are often called
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#1732783161861180-496: The early 19th century and that one by William Barlow in 1808 was prescient. By the 1830s, many designs with a central screw and a lower jaw moved by a nut were well known. Geesin and others document that English engineers Richard Clyburn and Edwin Beard Budding presented some influential new designs in 1842 and 1843. The one by Clyburn had the form of thumbwheel screw with worm -on- rack arrangement that would later be
195-594: The industry's best. The stagehands union, IATSE , come close in that they offer apprentice and journeyman levels of certification. In the future, IATSE, or some of the larger local affiliations may form a more formal method of certification, which may include the title of master electrician. In the meantime, almost every production, from high school shows to Broadway uses the term to describe their primary electrician, regardless of their skill level or experience. Adjustable spanner An adjustable spanner (UK and most other English-speaking countries), also called
210-534: The most famous via subsequent adaptations. Improvements followed. In 1885 Enoch Harris received US patent 326868 for his spanner that permitted both the jaw width and the angle of the handles to be adjusted and locked. One of the most widely known forms of adjustable wrench in the 21st century is an improved version of the Clyburn type; it was developed in 1891–1892. The Swedish company Bahco attributes its invention to Johan Petter Johansson , who in 1892 received
225-402: The tool. The tool is therefore usually angled so that the movable jaw's area of contact is closer to the body of the tool, which means less bending stress. Still, one should avoid applying excessive force on tight bolts, since doing so can pry open the mounting of the movable jaw causing the wrench to no longer be able to be snugged to bolt heads, loosen too easily, or mar bolt heads. In some cases
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