HARD LOCK INDUSTRY CO., LTD.

	President name		Katsuhiko Wakabayashi
	Address		1-6-24, Kawamata, Higashiosaka-city, Osaka, 577-0063, Japan
	TEL		+81-6-6784-1131
	FAX		+81-6-6784-1161
	Foundation		1974
	Capital		16,000,000 yen
	Number of employees		38
	Company URL		http://www.hardlock.co.jp/
	Major lines of business		Hard Lock anti-loosening nuts, HLB (Hard Lock Bearing) nuts
	Top market share products		Anti-loosening lock nuts (top class)

Devoted to anti-loosening lock nuts as a means of supporting safety for 31 years

Ever since its establishment in 1974, Hard Lock Industry Co., Ltd. has been deeply concerned with safety issues, and over the intervening years the company has remained committed to supporting safety through the application of its proven technology and exacting quality control. Hard Lock’s patented products, the Hard Lock anti-loosening nuts and the HLB, have both accumulated impressive actual records of use in a huge variety of industrial fields ranging from public facilities, railways and automobiles to shipbuilding, bridges, electricity pylons, general equipment, robots, general construction and nuclear power plants.

Particularly in the case of nuclear power plants, where extremely high precision is essential, our nuts are highly evaluated and are employed extensively both in Japan and around the world for fastening indispensable parts. Incidentally, all sizes of Hard Lock and the HLB nuts have also passed the US NAS 3350 procurement specification reusability test of self-locking nuts.

Hard Lock products are used in the carriages of the new Nozomi trains running on Japan Railways’ Shinkansen high-speed railway network. These trains initially suffered a series of problems due to bolts loosening as a result of vibration during operation, but since the original bolts were replaced by Hard Lock nuts, there have been no further problems at all. Over the past two decades, our products have also been utilized for a series of large-scale civil engineering projects including the Onaruto Bridge, the Seto Ohashi Bridges, the Kansai International Airport Connecting Bridge and the Akashi Ohashi Bridge as well as for the fastenings between the rails and sleepers throughout the entire length of the Nagano Shinkansen line. In addition, large quantities of our products were used in reinforcement work on the Rokkosan Tunnel in Kobe following the 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. More recently, we completed the delivery of four million nut products for rail and sleeper connection use on the new Taiwan Shinkansen line.

In these and other ways, Hard Lock products are obtaining broad-based trust as locking nuts that never loosen regardless of the degree of vibration to which they are exposed. Hard Lock nuts remain completely fastened even in the event of a major earthquake because they employ a wedge effect, under which two convex/concave nuts are employed and one side of each nut is given eccentric dimensions. When the bolts are tightened there is no damage and no seizing of the screw part against the bolts, so stable loosening prevention is maintained even if the bolts are attached and detached several dozen times. As a result, Hard Lock nuts provide excellent economy because they don’t require maintenance checking, along with good workability because they can be easily fastened using a spanner.

In recent years, we have expanded the range of materials from which Hard Lock nuts are made in line with the growing list of applications for these products. At present, in addition to iron, we make stainless steel, titanium and resin versions, with the last type finding widespread use in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

From now on too, Hard Lock nut will remain determined to continue challenging the invisible but essential concept of safety by keeping the world supplied with new and improved types off anti-loosening nuts and space lock nuts in order to make a positive contribution to industrial society.