crank

crank

¹

1. a device for communicating motion or for converting reciprocating motion into rotary motion or vice versa. It consists of an arm projecting from a shaft, often with a second member attached to it parallel to the shaft

2. a handle incorporating a crank, used to start an engine or motor

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crank

², cranky

(of a sailing vessel) easily keeled over by the wind; tender

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

crank

[kraŋk]

(mechanical engineering)

A link in a mechanical linkage or mechanism that can turn about a center of rotation.

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

Crank

In a mechanical linkage or mechanism, a link that can turn about a center of rotation. The crank's center of rotation is in the pivot, usually the axis of a crankshaft, that connects the crank to an adjacent link. A crank is arranged for complete rotation (360°) about its center; however, it may only oscillate or have intermittent motion. A bell crank is frequently used to change direction of motion in a linkage (see illustration). See Linkage (mechanism)

Cranks (a) for changing radius of rotation, and (b) for changing direction of translation

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Engineering. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

crank

In a mechanical linkage or mechanism, a link that can turn about a center of rotation. The crank's center of rotation is in the pivot, usually the axis of the crankshaft, that connects the crank to the adjacent link. A crank is arranged for complete rotation (i.e., through 360°) about its center; however, it may only oscillate or have intermittent motion. A bell crank is frequently used to change the direction of the motion in a linkage.

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

crank

(Automotive slang) Verb used to describe the performance of a machine, especially sustained performance. "This box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on vectorised operations."

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

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 It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Crank

 

the simplest rotating part of a crank mechanism. It has a cylindrical projection, the pin, whose axis is displaced relative to the axis of rotation of the crank by a distance r, which may be fixed or variable (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Types of crank: (a) with constant radius r of pin displacement, (b) with r regulated by a slide, (c) with r regulated by a rotating disk

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