shafting

[Eng. shaft; -ing.] Mach .: The system of shafts in a machine-shop for the transmi ion of power. It serves to convey the force which is generated in the engine to the different machines, for which purpose it is provided with drums and belts, or cog-wheels firmly keyed on. Horizontal shafts are known as lying; vertical, as upright. (2) The spire of a steeple. (3) The part of a chimney which rises above the shafts. roof; a stack. (4) The stem or stock of a feather or quill. (5) The chimney of a furnace. 3. One of the bars, between a pair of which a horse is harne ed to a vehicle; a thill; the pole or tongue of a carriage, chariot, . "The racer stumbles in the shaft , And shows he was not meant for draft." Lloyd: The Cobbler of Cripple gate's Letter. 4. The handle of certain weapons or tools; a haft: as, the shaft of a hammer, whip, . 5. The forward, straight part of a gun-stock. 6. The interior space of a start furnace. II. Fig .: A mi ile weapon. "Some kinds of literary pursuits, indisputably innocent at least, have been attacked with all the IMG:content-1297.png:[blocks in formation] B. Technically: 1. Architecture: (1) The body or a column between the base and capital; the fust or trunk. [COLUMN] (2) One of the small columns which, in med iæval architecture, are clustered round pillars, or used in the jambs of doors or windows, in arcades, . 2. Machinery : (1) That part of a machine to which motion_is communicated by torsion, as the shaft of a flywheel, a paddle-shaft or screw-shaft of a steam ve el, the crank-axle of a locomotive. [COUNTERSHAFT.] (2) A rod supported in hangers or bearings suspended from the ceiling or beneath the floor of a workshop, communicating motion to various machines from the prime motor. 3. Mining : A perpendicular or slightly-inclined pit, sunk by digging or blasting. In treacherous ground it is lined by curbs, called tubbing or crib bing. [BRATTICE.] 4. Weaving : A long lath at each end of the hed. dles of a loom. * To make a shaft or a bolt of a thing : A proverbial expre ion, meaning to take the risk, to chance a shaft-alley, s. Ship build.: A pa age-way between the after bulkhead of the engine-room and the shaft-pipe, around the propeller-shaft, and affording a means of acce thereto.