Source :- Google.com.pk
A special case of moments is a couple. A couple consists of two parallel forces that are equal in magnitude, opposite in sense and do not share a line of action. It does not produce any translation, only rotation. The resultant force of a couple is zero. BUT, the resultant of a couple is not zero; it is a pure moment.
For example, the forces that two hands apply to turn a steering wheel are often (or should be) a couple. Each hand grips the wheel at points on opposite sides of the shaft. When they apply a force that is equal in magnitude yet opposite in direction the wheel rotates. If both hands applied a force in the same direction, the sum of the moments created by each force would equal zero and the wheel would not rotate. Instead of rotating around the shaft, the shaft would be loaded with a force tending to cause a translation with a magnitude of twice F. If the forces applied by the two hands were unequal, there would again be an unbalanced force creating a translation of the "system." A pure couple always consists of two forces equal in magnitude.
The moment of a couple is the product of the magnitude of one of the forces and the perpendicular distance between their lines of action. M = F x d. It has the units of kip-feet, pound-inches, KN-meter, etc. The magnitude of the moment of a couple is the same for all points in the plane of the couple. A couple may be moved anywhere in its plane or a parallel plane without changing its external effect. The magnitude of the couple is independent of the reference point and its tendency to create a rotation will remain constant. This can be illustrated with the simple illustration of a bar with a length d that is pinned at its midpoint. Two parallel forces of equal magnitude, opposite in sense are applied at the ends of the bar. The magnitude of the moment generated by the couple of the forces F, relative to the pin in the illustration,
If two opposite moments act to cause an object to rotate, such as when your two hand are at the 'quarter-past-three' position on a car steering wheel, it is called a couple. The moment of a couple is called the torque. It is quite often said of engines and applys to the ability of the engine to turn the wheels, or wrongly by Jeremy Clarkson from 'Top Gear' as in, "This engine has a lot of torques."
The torque is a psuedo-vector quantity. That is, it has magnitude and it has a direction that is projected perpendicular to the plane of the vectorsF and r. The direction of the vector from the plane follows a right-handed corkscrew rule or equivalently the right-hand screw rule.
SWEET COUPLE QUOTES