witness-mark n.— «Wherever you wanted to cut off, the valve gear could e put at that notch or clamped at that place, which will bring the “cut-off” witness mark right for cutting off.» —by Robert Grimshaw Supplement to the Steam Engine...
powerchair n.— «A powerchair, another term for a motorized wheelchair, moves by means of an electric motor. To control the engine, users may use a keyboard, joystick, or similar instrument. Such motorized wheelchairs are designed for use on all...
hookah diving n.— «A submerged Craig Stevens poked and prodded the riverbank mud with a hose. On the surface, his fiancee, Carolyn Decker, alternately played with the couple’s three dogs and tended to their suction dredge—a device that looks like a...
dead man’s switch n.— «A safety switch was disconnected in a runaway locomotive which crushed three people to death in Milton on March 14, an inquest was told yesterday. The switch, called a dead man’s switch, first gives a warning whistle and then...
finger trouble n.— «It was an assembly error in the car’s in-line six that led to a blow-up and fire as one of the conrods left the scene of the crime through the side of the engine block. Race teams put such failures down to “finger trouble,”...
pop n.— «Mike Rehmus, editor of Model Engine Builder, a magazine published five times a year in Vallejo, Calif., said that the builders of miniature internal-combustion engines seemed to have in common a “satisfaction of making something mechanical...