walking beam

American  

noun

Machinery.

1. an overhead oscillating lever, pivoted at the middle, for transmitting force from a vertical connecting rod below one end to a vertical connecting rod, pump rod, etc., below the other end.

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Etymology

Origin of walking beam

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

walking beam

Near Manhattan's 37th St., in the "Old Tenderloin," he studied under Ablaba, a honkytonk pianist with a "left hand like a walking beam."

From Time Magazine Archive

You are still so full of egotism that it sways you like the walking beam of a steamboat.

From Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)

His bar oscillated like the walking beam of a steamboat.

From The Age of Invention : a chronicle of mechanical conquest by Thompson, Holland

The shimmering icebergs call you; the plunging screw-drums scream, By shallowing shoals they haul you, to the beat of the walking beam.

From Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure by Johnston, Charles Haven Ladd

We say do not eliminate him—lift him up—make him what he naturally is and is in position to be—the walking beam of Business!

From Crowds A Moving-Picture of Democracy by Lee, Gerald Stanley