Search the Dictionary

ear of the vent. -- Base plate, the foundation plate of heavy machinery, as of the steam engine; the bed plate. -- Base ring (Ordnance), a projecting band of metal around the breech, connected with the body of the gun by a concave molding. H. L. Scott.

1. (Mil.) An engine used in ancient times to beat down the walls of besieged places.

is directed. -- Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the working beam of an engine vibrates. -- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points; -- used for drawing or describing large circles. -- Beam engine, a steam engine having a work…

raming of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

hich is forced through the molten metal; -- so called from Sir Henry Bessemer, an English engineer, the inventor of the process.

The exhaust steam from and engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast.

The exhaust pipe of a steam engine, or any pipe delivering steam or air, when so constructed as to cause a blast.

-- To blow off, to let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose; as, the engine or steamer is blowing off. -- To blow out. (a) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out. (b) To talk violently or abusively. [Low] -- To blow over, to pass aw…

ether, or a composite structure variously formed, in which steam is generated for driving engines, or for heating, cooking, or other purposes.

tended handle by means of which a number of men can unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine.

The man in charge of the winding (or hoisting) engine for a mine.

Skew bridge, a bridge built obliquely from bank to bank, as sometimes required in railway engineering. -- Suspension bridge. See under Suspension. -- Trestle bridge, a bridge formed of a series of short, simple girders resting on trestles. -- Tubular bridge, a bridge in the form of a hollow trunk or rectangular tube…

ckerel (Zoöl.), the chub mackerel. -- Bull pump (Mining), a direct single-acting pumping engine, in which the steam cylinder is placed above the pump. -- Bull snake (Zoöl.), the pine snake of the United States. -- Bull stag, a castrated bull. See Stag. -- Bull wheel, a wheel, or drum, on which a rope is wound for l…

The covered part of a locomotive, in which the engineer has his station. Knight.

the actors in a theater; a boy who transmits the orders of the captain of a vessel to the engineer, helmsman, etc. (b) A waiting boy who answers a cal, or cames at the ringing of a bell; a bell boy. -- Call note, the note naturally used by the male bird to call the female. It is artifically applied by birdcatchers as…

Of or pertaining to caloric. Caloric engine, a kind of engine operated air.

carbureted, as by passing it through a light petroleum oil. The carburetor for a gasoline engine is usually either a surface carburetor, or a float, float-feed, or spray, carburetor. In the former air is charged by being passed over the surface of gasoline. In the latter a fine spray of gasoline is drawn from an atomiz…

A roll of wool or other fiber as it comes from the carding machine. Carding engine, Carding machine, a machine for carding cotton, wool, or other fiber, by subjecting it to the action of cylinders, or drum covered with wire-toothed cards, revoling nearly in contact with each other, at different rates of speed, or in op…

An ideal heat-engine cycle in which the working fluid goes through the following four successive operations: (1) Isothermal expansion to a desired point; (2) adiabatic expansion to a desired point; (3) isothermal compression to such a point that (4) adiabatic compression brings it back to its initial state.…

An engine somewhat resembling a massive crossbow, used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for throwing stones, arrows, spears, etc.