October, 2006. ZipNut Technologies, LLC, has been awarded a contract to provide special design ZipNuts® to be used on the floating production facility in the Tahiti Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico.  Located about 190 miles south of New Orleans, the Tahiti field is one of the largest in the Gulf and is the most significant oil find since Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

The 3×8 threads per inch, 100 pound ZipNuts® will be used to attach “strakes” or baffles that avoid harmonic vibrations caused ...

By Tom Sawyer

When the astronauts operating the robot arms of the space shuttle lift the big modules into place to be fastened to the space station, motor-driven bolts will spin into captive nuts to make the structural connection. To ensure fit, only one nut in a pattern is fixed. The others have conical entries and can shift slightly along differing vectors to ensure alignment.

But even though those connections have been largely automated, there is a great deal of hand work to ...

If you’ve ever struggled to thread a nut onto a bolt in an awkward spot, you know how frustrating and time consuming it can be. But imagine trying the same task wearing heavy work gloves and the ultimate in “coveralls” — a space suit — while you and your tools float weightlessly. Working in space isn’t easy.

While ZipNuts® may sound like a new breakfast cereal, they’re actually a Space Age answer to some nuts-and-bolts assembly problems. Now this same technology used by astronauts for assembly and repair ...

On December 19, 1999, 45 stainless steel 1-1/8 Heavy Hex ZipNuts® were used by the Department of Energy Savannah River Project to speed up maintenance in a high radiation area during a nuclear outage. The ZipNuts® were successful and reduced worker radiation.

The patented ZipNut® design is covered by the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Case N-579.

12/28/1999

During the Christmas season, 1999, NASA astronauts in Space Shuttle Discovery captured the Hubble Space Telescope, repaired it and sent it back into orbit to search deep space.

Two of the major projects, replacing a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and replacing the S-Band Single Access Transmitter (SSAT) were conducted with ZipNut® Technology products. The FGS, which keeps the telescope accurately pointed, was replaced with 8 Double ZipNut® Hand Tools developed with Swales Aerospace. The Double ZipNut® tools were used by the space walking astronauts to remove the ...

NASA engineers are hard at work developing a kit to patch holes on the International Space Station (ISS) caused by orbital debris and meteoroid impacts.

Designated KERMIt (Kit for External Repair of Module Impacts), the system was developed by the Mission Operations Laboratory at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama to permit crew members on EVA to seal penetrations in pressurized, habitable compartments of ISS. The KERMIt patches would be installed after the damaged compartment had become fully depressurized. Installing the patch ...

In the business of space construction, the phrase, “some assembly
required” is commonly heard, just as it is here on Earth. But there is a big
difference. Suited up in heavy pressurized space suits and outfitted with
bulky gloves, astronauts have a tougher job in completing work tasks.

Specifically built to Johnson Space Center requirements, Thread
Technology, Inc. of Sterling, Virginia, developed the ZipNut® replete with
Push-on Threads®;. As the name suggests, this fastener can be pushed
on, rather than turned. ...