crosshead

American  

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

noun

1. Printing. a title or 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

After the crosshead end is finished, the rod is reversed in the lathe for turning the piston end.

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.

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.

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 piston rod is attached to a long cast-iron crosshead, from which two bent connecting rods extend downward, the one to a crank, and the other to a crank-pin inserted in the flywheel.

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

“We may possibly get rid of the water below, but the crosshead bearings are working loose, and I’d like to know who’s going to give me a new gudgeon pin?”

From The Ghost Ship A Mystery of the Sea by Austin, Henry