Dead Center

dead center

[¦ded ′sen·tər]

(mechanical engineering)

A position of a crank in which the turning force applied to it by the connecting rod is zero; occurs when the crank and rod are in a straight line.

A support for the work on a lathe which does not turn with the work.

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

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 It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Dead Center

 

the extreme position of a piston in the cylinder of a piston engine, at which the motion of the piston changes direction. The piston position at the greatest distance from the crank is known as top dead center, and the position closest to the crank is known as bottom dead center. When the piston is at dead center, its velocity is zero, and the forces acting upon it do not generate an impulse (momentum) for displacement of the crank. In theoretical mechanics the positions of the piston at dead center are sometimes called limit positions (points).

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