differential gear

American  

noun

Machinery.

1. differential.

2. any of various comparable arrangements of gears, as an epicyclic train.

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differential gear British  

noun

1. the epicyclic gear mounted in the driving axle of a road vehicle that permits one driving wheel to rotate faster than the other, as when cornering

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Etymology

Origin of differential gear

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

He designed the first power loom, the first rolling mill, the first differential gear, the first picture projector.

From Time Magazine Archive

The propellers of the Abaris worked independently, on a sort of differential gear, like the rear wheels of an automobile.

From Dick Hamilton's Airship, or, a Young Millionaire in the Clouds by Garis, Howard Roger

He suggested I should pass the time seeing the sights while he fixed up the sprockets or the differential gear or whatever it was.

From A Damsel in Distress by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

On opening up the differential gear case both set-screws holding the axles were found loose.

From Two Thousand Miles on an Automobile Being a Desultory Narrative of a Trip Through New England, New York, Canada, and the West, By "Chauffeur" by Eddy, Arthur Jerome

Of the relative merits of different forms of differential gear there is little to be said.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 by Various