“ Some are merely large pincers or nippers, but the greatest number fall into three classes: the first, as in the common fire-tongs, used for picking up pieces of coal and placing them on a fire, which have long arms terminating in small flat circular grippers and are pivoted close to the handle; the second, as in the sugar-tongs, asparagus tongs, and the like, consisting of a single band of metal bent round or of two bands joined at the head by a spring, and third, such as the blacksmith's tongs or the crucible-tongs, in which the pivot or joint is placed close to the gripping ends. ”