[SEL] CrossHead

[Carl Carlsen]

Ed,
Others may have a more technical definition, but to me a cross head is
an "in-between" connection between the crankshaft and the piston.  With
the motion that a crankshaft puts on a connecting rod, it would be
impossible to maintain a direct "to and fro" motion.  Instead, the
connecting rod drives a connecting block in the crosshead, which in turn
drives a piston rod which can be driven to and fro with no up & down
motion.  I'm thinking of the 1895 Mery engine ... which was kinda at the
end of the steam era (many observers mistake it for a steam engine).   A
"crosshead" (to me) is more often thought of as a steam engine 'thing'
.....

http://www.pbase.com/captain_carl/image/41033128

That's not the best picture of it, but you can see the crosshead with
the connecting rod coming from the crank, and the piston rod on the
front end of the crosshead.  The Mery has 2 combustion chambers, the aft
one being "sealed" by a packing nut around the piston rod.

>What is a cross head??