Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 166

In April of 1912, the “unsinkable” luxury liner Titanic would set out on her maiden voyage, only to collide within several days with an iceberg and sink in the freezing waters of the north Atlantic. The sinking of the Titanic would become, perhaps, the most iconic of all modern maritime accidents, and one that has been memorialized with multiple documentaries and blockbuster films such as James Cameron’s 1997 adaptation of the disaster.

For many years it was believed that the iceberg tore a long gash in the Titanic’s hull. Exploration and analysis of the ship and its parts, however, seem to suggest a different story. The one that emerges is of substandard iron rivets, already functioning at their margins, overstressed during the collision, breaking, and allowing hull plates to separate and seawater to flood inside.

Certainly there were many factors in-play, but, yes it seems likely that the rivets failed, dooming the “unsinkable” Titanic to catastrophic failure and so many of its passenger and crew to a watery grave.

As this story illustrates, rivets can and do play an exceptionally important role in the life and function of the products and structures in which they are used. Although other technologies have replaced many of the early uses of rivets, such as holding together ships and other large iron and steel structures, rivets are still an integral part of the manufacturing and assembly landscape and are, in fact, imperative in certain manufacturing industries such as aerospace and automotive.

This article will explore the different styles of rivets and some of the equipment used to install them.