piston rod

noun

1. a rod communicating the rectilinear motion of a piston to the small end of a connecting rod or elsewhere.

piston rod

noun

1. the rod that connects the piston of a reciprocating steam engine to the crosshead
2. a less common name for a connecting rod

Word History and Origins

Origin of piston rod¹

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

When he got there, the hood of the Hudson was open and several men were staring at the stricken engine, which had been neatly bisected by a flying piston rod.

From Washington Post

Assembly of VW's top-selling model at the carmaker's largest factory will be suspended on Friday, Monday and Tuesday after a piston rod inside the stamping plant's engine broke, the carmaker said on Thursday.

From Reuters

The loud noise that Abbey and I had heard was the outboard engine throwing a piston rod, though we didn’t know that at the time.

From Literature

“The right hand whipping like a piston rod which has broken through the crankcase, or like a baseball bat demolishing a pumpkin,” Norman Mailer, a ringside witness, recalled in an essay.

From New York Times

Thus a piston rod may be finished and polished to the maximum degree consistent with maintaining its parallelism and truth, while a connecting rod stem may be polished to any required attainable degree.

From Project Gutenberg