REGARDING Shooting Brakes and Hypoid Gears
Looked in three dictionaries before I found it.
Shooting of course refers to going out with your guns and dogs and blasting
away at grouse or pheasants.
Brake - (besides the obvious definitions)
def. 4 - also break, Brit., a large high-set four wheeled vehicle with
crosswise seats, a seat in front for the driver, and another behind for
footmen, now little used. (no picture, not clear whether this meant two or
four seats)
def. 5 - Obs., an old instrument of torture (Hmmm, has possibilities)
def. 8 - a place overgrown with bushes, brambles, shrubs, or cane, a thicket.
(sounds like where you might find those grouse, or how the vehicle in def. 4
got its name)
Take your pick, I guess.
Seems to be going out of use, like our "depot hack" was replaced by "station
wagon", which will probably be replaced by "mini-van".
Hypoid Gears - Found in the rear axle of most RWD cars, the pitch surface
approaches a hyperboloid of revolution, the pinion axis does not intersect the
crown axis, unlike spiral bevel gears found on pre-1925 cars, quieter than
spiral bevel gears, too. The offset axes allow a lower slung body. Hypoid gears
have sliding action along the teeth, whereas spiral bevel gears do not.
Probably that's why they need a special lubricant.
Rob "the Pedant - def. 2c. in Webster's"
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