lead screw

American  

[leed] / lid /

noun

1. (on a lathe) a rotating horizontal screw for moving the tool carriage along the work at a constant rate.

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lead screw British  

/ liːd /

noun

1. a threaded rod that drives the tool carriage in a lathe when screw cutting, etc

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Example Sentences

Its lead screw, liberated from the child’s spinning top that inspired its designer, still works, sending the basket merrily whirring in its plastic bowl.

From Slate

WHY: The incline lead screw can shear off, causing the foot pedals to drop unexpectedly, resulting in a fall hazard to the user.

From Seattle Times

The screw-cutting lathe, which is provided with a lead screw, by means of which other screws may be cut.

From Project Gutenberg

These wheels are termed change wheels on account of their requiring to be changed for every varying pitch of thread to be cut, so that their relative diameters, or, what is the same thing, their relative number of teeth, shall be such as to give to the lead screw the speed of rotation per lathe revolution necessary to cut upon the work a thread or screw of the required pitch.

From Project Gutenberg

At the bottom of the scale are pitches of lead screw from 3 up to 20 threads per inch.

From Project Gutenberg