Truck.
1. (
Nautical.)
a. A small wooden disk at the extreme summit of a mast.
It may contain the pulleys for the signal halyards.
b. A circular perforated block like a wooden thimble, and acting as a
fair-leader.
2. A roller at the foot of a derrick or gin by which the position of the hoisting-apparatus may be shifted.
3. (
Ordnance.) A small solid wheel on which a certain description of gun-carriage is based.
4. A low two-wheeled vehicle for conveying goods and packages.
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Hand-truck. |
The hand-truck is an efficient vehicle for removing single packages of considerable weight; the curved bar in front being insinuated under the box, for instance, which is then tipped so as to balance back slightly against the bed, in which position it is transported upon a pair of heavy wheels of small diameter.
It is an indispensable assistant in warehouses, express-offices, etc.
The term
truck is sometimes applied to certain hand-carts and twowheeled barrows It is not easy to make the distinction in some cases, and perhaps not very important.
See wheelbarrow.
5. A wagon with a low bed, for moving heavy packages.
Fig. 6676 illustrates what is known as the
crane-neck truck.
The fore part is connected to the body by an arched bar, which permits the fore wheels to turn beneath it.
6. A low platform on wheels for moving buildings, heavy stone block, safes, etc.
Fig. 6677.
7. (
Railway.) A swiveling carriage with four or six wheels beneath the forward part of a locomotive, or supporting one end of a railway-car, either passenger or freight.
The long car supported on swiveling trucks is one of the peculiar features of American railway rollingstock.
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Crane-neck truck |
Fig. 6678 is a truck for street-cars, and shows a peculiar mode of bracing the pedestals.
Fig. 6679 is for railways, and shows a system of bracing and transferring the imposition of weights until they eventually
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come upon the brasses, which rest on the axles.
See car-truck, pages 488-90.
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Truck for moving buildings. |
