differential gear

American  

noun

Machinery.

1. differential.

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

---

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

---

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 objection to the crank is the fact that it weakens the shaft, and that it can only be used with a clutch, not with a differential gear.

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

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

In a rear-steerer which has not an open front, whether driven by a clutch or by differential gear, I fail to discover any good quality.

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