Layshaft

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Lay shaft \Lay shaft\, or Layshaft \Lay"shaft`\, n. (Mach.)
     A secondary shaft, as in a sliding change gear for an
     automobile; a cam shaft operated by a two-to-one gear in an
     internal-combustion engine. It is generally a shaft moving
     more or less independently of the other parts of a machine,
     as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small


     auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of
     the main engine to insure uniform motion.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]