Talk:trunnion

Missing sense?

Chambers 1908 has: "in steam-engines, a hollow gudgeon on each side of an oscillating cylinder, serving as a support to it". Is that the same as our "automotive suspension" sense? Does "automotive" cover steam engines? Equinox ◑ 02:20, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

IMO 'automotive' does not cover steam engines. All these definitions probably have obvious commonality or metaphorical relationship to someone who understands one application well and has drawings of the others.

In the opinion of MW online the cannon application is primary. ("a pin or pivot on which something can be rotated or tilted, especially : either of two opposite gudgeons on which a cannon is swiveled"}

A dictionary of locksmithing has: "the part of a lever lock that accepts the key and stabilizes it, typically a single piece or an assembly consisting of some combination of a nose, guide and foot"

Another dictionary makes a big deal of the projections being coaxial and on opposite sides permitting rotation in the vertical plane.

I don't see the analogy in a lock or even in the steam cylinder. DCDuring (talk) 04:51, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

See this image of steam engine at Commons. The text suggests that the trunnions are much like the cannon trunnions, except that they are apparently also the ports for introducing steam into the cylinder. DCDuring (talk) 05:09, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Another missing sense, two years later

The senses provided currently (May 2020) seem to totally miss the sense of trunnions as used in the cargo hold of military aircraft and helicopters for securing cargo and ensuring it does not shift during flight (which can, and has, resulted in a loss of the aircraft and the death of pilots and crew). Similarly, trunnions were used extensively in the cargo hold of the Space Shuttle, as described, and illustrated, in this "Payload users guide" for the Space Shuttle. (Pinging User:DCDuring and User:SemperBlotto; my Wiktionary fu is unfortunately rather weak, and I'm nt sure how to tag this to draw it to the attention of more facile wordsmiths.) User:N2e, 18 May 2020.

Could you take a run at definitions, either in the entry or here? Also, or alternatively, could you find an image at Wikicommons?

I hope we can get some understanding of why the same word is used for things differing in appearance and, apparently, in mechanical function. DCDuring (talk) 22:53, 18 May 2020 (UTC)