scope:

Forged threaded lifting eyes used in lifting applications come within the scope of ASME Standards Committee B18 on Standardization of Bolts, Nuts, Rivets, Screws, Washers, and Similar Fasteners, which was organized in March of 1922 under the procedures of the American Engineering Standards Committee [later renamed the American National Standards Institute, Inc. (ANSI)], with the Society of Automotive Engineers and The American Society of Mechanical Engineers as joint sponsors.

Subcommittee No. 15 was appointed in March of 1960 and asked to give initial consideration to the establishment of a standard on forged lifting eyes including rated capacity. At its first meeting, held on April 22, 1960, the committee decided to ask all of the leading suppliers to furnish dimensions, tolerances, and rated capacities for their standard lifting eyes. This data was collected, consolidated, and studied in detail. It was soon apparent that it would be impossible to develop an ANSI standard that would agree with even a small percentage of the standard products then being produced. The first proposal, therefore, attempted to come as close as possible to an average value and still maintain an orderly progression from the smaller to the larger sizes.

ANSI Standards Committee B18 approved the proposal by letter ballot taken on September 24, 1964, and following approval by the sponsors it was submitted on July 28, 1965 to ANSI for approval. Because of a conflict with the USA Standard Specification for Carbon Steel Eyebolts, G38.2-1964, final approval was with held. Subsequent to the withdrawal of G38.2-1964, ANSI approved the B18 proposal on February 18, 1969.

A revision was approved by letter ballot of ASME (the sponsor) and submitted to ANSI for designation as an American National Standard. ANSI approval of B18.15-1985, Forged Eyebolts, was granted on July 17, 1985.

In the mid-1980s it was determined that there would be need for a standard to cover lifting eyes with metric threads. A standard was developed using the existing forgings. After several meetings and revisions, the Committee decided, at the June 1990 meeting, to create a standard that would be compatible with the world market and would thus reflect the ISO standard. This meant that only shouldered lifting eyes would be included, because that is the only style in the ISO standard. There were concerns about the thread undercut used on metric lifting eyes. An FEA (finite element analysis) determined that the undercut was not detrimental to performance. Although the material generally used by U.S. manufacturers greatly exceeds the requirements of the ISO standard, the decision was made to down rate the capacity to the ISO standard requirements. Following approval by ASME, the document was submitted to ANSI. ASME B18.15.1M-1998 was approved by ANSI on November 30, 1998.

In response to requests from users for lifting eyes with greater lifting capacity and longer threads, the Committee created a standard for straight shank (no flange) lifting eyes based on the capabilities of the materials used in the U.S. for inch threaded lifting eyes. Following approval by ASME, the document was submitted to ANSI. ASME B18.15.2M-1998 was approved by ANSI on July 7, 1998.