tongs on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Tongs are a type of 
tool
A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...
used to grip and lift objects instead of holding them directly with hands. There are many forms of tongs adapted to their specific use. Design variations include resting points so that the working end of the tongs does not come into contact with a bench surface.
The first pair of tongs belongs to the Egyptians. Tongs likely started off as basic wooden tongs and then over time progressed to bronze bars as early as 3000BC. Over time they progressed to what we now know as modern-day tongs. An Egyptian wall painting from 1450 BCE shows a crucible supported between two metal bars.
# Tongs that have long arms terminating in small flat circular ends of tongs and are pivoted at a joint close to the handle
A handle is a part of, or an attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and object manipulation, manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomics, ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt wi ...
used to handle delicate objects. Common fire-tongs, used for picking up pieces of coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
and placing them on a fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
without burning fingers or getting them dirty are of this type. Tongs for grilling, and tongs for serving salad or spaghetti are kitchen utensils of the same type. They provide a way to move, rotate and turn the food with delicate precision, or fetch a full serving in one grab.
# Tongs consist a single band of bent metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
, as in sugar tongs, most asparagus
Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.
Description ...
tongs (which are no longer common) and the like. Sugar tongs are usually silver, with claw-shaped or spoon-shaped ends for serving lump sugar. Asparagus tongs are usually similar but larger, with a band near the head that limits how far the tongs can expand. Asparagus tongs for serving were introduced in 18th-century England, with smaller versions for eating asparagus appearing in the 19th century.
# Tongs in which the pivot or joint is placed close to the gripping ends are used to handle hard and heavy objects. Driller's round tongs, blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
's tongs or crucible tongs are of this type.
A myth contained in the classical Jewish text Pirkei Avot
Pirkei Avot (; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth'', also ''Abhoth''), which translates into English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewis ...
states that the first pair of tongs was created by God right before God rested on the Seventh Day. The reasoning is that a blacksmith must use a pair of tongs in order to fashion a new pair of tongs. Accordingly, God must have provided humankind with the first pair of tongs.Scherman, Nosson. ''Ethics of the Fathers'' Annotations. ''The Complete ArtScroll Siddur''. Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984. 544-586.
See also
* Fire iron * Food preparation utensils *Forceps
Forceps (: forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Forcep ...
*Tweezers
Tweezers are small hand tools used for grasping objects too small to be easily handled with the human fingers. Tweezers are thumb-driven forceps most likely derived from tongs used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history. ...
References
{{Authority control Serving utensils Food preparation utensils Metalworking hand tools Tools