SHAFT n.
length, in a shop or factory, usually bearing a number of pulleys by which machines are driven, commonly by means of countershafts; -- called also line, or main line. -- Shaft alley (Naut.), a passage extending from the engine room to the stern, and containing the propeller shaft. -- Shaft furnace (Metal.), a furnac…
SINGLE v.
called single-foot;- said of a horse. See Single-foot. Many very fleet horses, when overdriven, adopt a disagreeable gait, which seems to be a cross between a pace and a trot, in which the two legs of one side are raised almost but not quite, simultaneously. Such horses are said to single, or to be single-footed. W. S…
SIPHON n.
er. See under Barometer. -- Siphon bottle, a bottle for holding aërated water, which is driven out through a bent tube in the neck by the gas within the bottle when a valve in the tube is opened; -- called also gazogene, and siphoid. -- Siphon condenser, a condenser for a steam engine, in which the vacuum is maintain…
SPAN n.
A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action. Span blocks (Naut.), blocks at the topmast and topgallant-mast heads, for the studding-sail halyards. -- Span counter, an old English child's game, in which one throws a counter on the ground, and…