crosshead

American  

[kraws-hed, kros-] / ˈkrɔsˌhɛd, ˈkrɒs- /

noun

1. Printing. a title or heading heading filling a line or group of lines the full width of the column.

2. Machinery. a sliding member of a reciprocating engine for keeping the motion of the joint between a piston rod and a connecting rod in a straight line.

3. Nautical. a crosspiece on a rudderpost by which the rudder is turned.

4. Engineering, Building Trades. a transverse timber for transmitting the lifting effort of two or more jackscrews supporting it to the foot of a shore that it supports.

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crosshead British  

/ ˈkrɒsˌhɛd /

noun

1. printing a subsection or paragraph heading printed within the body of the text

2. a block or beam, usually restrained by sliding bearings in a reciprocating mechanism, esp the junction piece between the piston rod and connecting rod of an engine

3. nautical a bar fixed across the top of the rudder post to which the tiller is attached

4. a block, rod, or beam fixed at the head of any part of a mechanism

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Etymology

Origin of crosshead

First recorded in 1835–45; cross- + head

Example Sentences

The piston rod and the crosshead obviously passed through its gun deck in a large hatch.

From Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran by Chapelle, Howard I. (Howard Irving)

The cylinder crosshead is shown in the inboard profile to have reached the underside of the beams of the upper deck.

From Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran by Chapelle, Howard I. (Howard Irving)

The casting D, shown in this particular illustration, is for a steam engine of the horizontal type, and the operation is that of boring the cylindrical guides or bearings for the crosshead.

From Turning and Boring A specialized treatise for machinists, students in the industrial and engineering schools, and apprentices, on turning and boring methods, etc. by Jones, Franklin D.

To the crosshead is also coupled a lever having its fulcrum on a bracket attached to the boiler; this lever serving to work the feed pump.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 470, January 3, 1885 by Various

Top left, straight-line linkage; top right, crosshead and guide arrangement; lower left, piston rod A is guided by sectors D and E, suspended by flexible cords.

From Kinematics of Mechanisms from the Time of Watt by Ferguson, Eugene S.