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pitch circle

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noun Machinery.
  1. an imaginary circle within the profiles of the teeth of a gear, such that it rotates against a similar circle rotating at the same rate on a meshing gear.
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Origin of pitch circle

First recorded in 1810–20
Also called pitch line.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pitch circle

Historical Examples

  • Let BB be part of the pitch-circle, and a the point where a tooth is to cross it.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 8

    Various

  • The distance, measured along the pitch-circle, from the face of one tooth to the face of the next, is called the pitch.

British Dictionary definitions for pitch circle

pitch circle

noun
  1. an imaginary circle passing through the teeth of a gearwheel, concentric with the gearwheel, and having a radius that would enable it to be in contact with a similar circle around a mating gearwheel
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012