connecting rod

connecting rod

[kə′nekt·iŋ ‚räd]

(mechanical engineering)

Any straight link that transmits motion or power from one linkage to another within a mechanism, especially linear to rotary motion, as in a reciprocating engine or compressor.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

connecting rod

The rod connecting the piston and transmitting power to the crankshaft of a reciprocating engine.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Connecting Rod

 

a link in a plane mechanism that is connected to other moving links by means of rotating kinematic pairs and that describes a complex two-dimensional motion.

Connecting rods are an important component in widely used crank-slide mechanisms, which convert the reciprocal motion of a slide (the piston) into the rotary motion of a crank (the crankshaft), or vice versa. In piston engines, compressors, and pumps, the connecting rod generally has an H-shaped cross section; the end connected to the piston (the small, or piston end) is not detachable, and the big end, connected to the crankshaft, is demountable to allow assembly of the mechanism.

In forging and press equipment, the connecting rod end is sometimes of a special design that allows acceptance of high loads in a single direction; connecting rods of both constant and variable length are also used to control the position of a slide. The length of the connecting rod may be varied by means of a rod, the threaded end of which is screwed into the body of the connecting rod and the other (spherical) end of which forms a spherical kinematic pair with the slide.

N. IA. NIBERG

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.