driving wheel meaning: definition, quotations

driving wheel

nounalso spelled driving-wheel

Rail transport, Railways, Transport On a steam locomotive, a powered wheel driven by the locomotive's pistons or turbine.

Just after leaving Milford the axle of the driving wheel of the locomotive broke, and before the train could be checked the trucks of the tender were thrown from the track; […]1860 January 23, “News of the Day”, in The New York Times, volume IX, number 2602, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2025, page 4, column 1:
Though of the same width as smaller engines, the ten giants are longer and higher, with immense driving wheels that make the wheels of most other freight locomotives look like toy hoops.1904 March 6, “Gen. [Benjamin] Butler’s Face in Rock”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2025:

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A wild roar of steam and driving wheels, the wail of its hoarse whistle at the crossing, and then, looming black against the night sky, it smashes past, and in the swing of drivers and connecting rods I think of a greyhound, or a racehorse thundering the final stretch.1914 April, Joseph Husband, “Semaphore”, in The Atlantic Monthly, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2025:
While not, perhaps, the handsomest of 4-4-2 tanks, as they had a rather large proportion of their driving wheels exposed, they proved very useful locomotives, doing yeoman work on suburban trains around London and Birmingham, and later on numerous rural routes.1951 March, David R. Webb, “British 4-4-2 Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 152:

Synonym of steering wheel.

My mother would be smoking, ashes falling in her lap, she would be sitting on a cushion so she could see over the driving wheel. […] She would drive slowly so she could look at the houses carefully.1999, Anne Roiphe, chapter 1, in 1185 Park Avenue: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 1:
Thanks in part to traffic school, I realize that one of the most dangerous activities I will be letting my children engage in is driving a car. As a parent, I will do my best to teach them the incredible responsibility they have when they put their hands on the driving wheel.2006 July 9, Nancy Yarbrough, “Teach safe driving to prevent deaths”, in The Birmingham News, Birmingham, Ala., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5C, column 4:

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So, despite some MPs’ concerns about safety statistics, leading insurers believe that older hands on the driving wheel are likely to be wiser and safer hands.2012 April 7, “Motor insurer helps ‘baby vroomers’ stay on the road”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 48,788, London, →ISSN, →OCLC, page Y14, column 8:
“You should have both hands on the driving wheel, so you can drive defensively and you’re prepared for anything that may happen,” [Michael] Reaves said.2016 September 10, Sydney Smith, “Bill would ban drivers’ hand-held phones”, in Times Herald, Port Huron, Mich.: Times Herald Co., →OCLC, page 2A, column 4:
Every Xbox One accessory you may have purchased over the past seven years (with the notable exception of the Kinect) will work with the Xbox Series X and Series S. Every first- and third-party controller, every fight stick, every driving wheel, every media remote, and every already formatted storage device will be compatible with the new consoles.2020 November 5, Arthur Gies, “Choosing the Right Xbox: Series X or Series S”, in Wirecutter, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Nov 2020:

A wheel that transmits motion to other wheels or machinery.

[W]hilſt this driving Wheel revolves once, the upright Wheel, or that which hath 8 Pinions, will revolve 5.625 Times; […]1752, Sam[uel] Bamfield, quotee, “Answers to the Mathematical Questions in 1751”, in The Gentleman’s Diary, or The Mathematical Repository; […], volume XII, London: […] Company of Stationers, →OCLC, page 26:
The driving wheel on this machine is admitted to be the simplest, easiest running and most convenient of any.1888 December 8, Weekly Times Publishing Co., “The Best Bargain Ever Offered in Sewing Machines. […]”, in The Davenport Weekly Times, volume 2, number 29, Davenport, Ia.: Weekly Times Publishing Co., page [3], column 6:

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The dog is made to rotate a central shaft carrying a large gear wheel which meshes with a small bevel gear carried on the sewing machine driving wheel.1910 July 25, “Curiosities of Invention”, in The Montreal Daily Star, volume XLII, number 175, Montreal, Que., →OCLC, page 14, column 6:
SEWING Machine, treadles, driving wheel and cabinets; quotation required, drop head type.1936 July 18, W. H. Sweeting, “Wanted to Buy”, in The Age, number 25,353, Melbourne, Vic., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 14, column 7:

driving-wheel

noun

Dated Dated form of driving wheel.

Under his inspection a carriage has been completed at the Pimlico manufactory; it is twenty-seven feet in length, including seven feet for the fire, boiler, cylinders, and the mechanism connected with the driving-wheels.1822 September 16, “Steam Carriages”, in Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, […], volume XXIII, number 1197, Portsmouth, Hampshire: […] G. H. Motley and W. Harrison, →OCLC, page [2], column 4:
To the lower ends of the latter are attached the cranks, which cranks are again connected by means of a novel modification of an universal joint to the driving-wheels, firmly fixed to the interior part of the carriage-common-wheels, and these last are thus propelled as required.1822 October 19, “New Patents, &c. To Julius Griffith, Esq. Brompton Crescent, for Carriages to Be Propelled by Steam on Common Roads, […]”, in The Charleston Mercury, […], volume I, number 248, Charleston, S.C.: […] Edmund Morford, […], →OCLC, front page, column 3:

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The engine of the train which left this City for New-Haven on Saturday afternoon broke its driving-wheel just after passing Milford, and while going at a speed of thirty miles an hour.1860 January 23, “Accident on the New-Haven Railroad”, in The New York Times, volume IX, number 2602, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2025, page 4, column 6:
The glare of the head-light, the rush and throb of the locomotive, the connecting rod and driving-wheels of which seem instinct with nervous life, the flashing lamps in the cars, and the final whirl of dust in which the red taillights vanish almost as soon as they are seen, — all this is well calculated to excite our wonder; […]1876 February, Charles Francis Adams Jr., “The Railroad Death-Rate”, in The Atlantic Monthly, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2022:
Whatever it may have been, it was subsidiary to the old gray mare and the big undulatory driving-wheel of the turning-lathe at the furniture factory, which would be under full swing the next morning at the Yellow Banks.1911, Matthew H. Jamison, “Off for Oregon. Frontier Life in the Early Forties.”, in Recollections of Pioneer and Army Life, Kansas City, Mo.: Hudson Press, →OCLC, page 38:
THIS photograph of the station and staff at Torre Station in 1865 shows much evidence of Mr [Isambard Kingdom] Brunel's 'broad gauge'. The rails are seven feet apart; the engine has a huge single driving-wheel, taller than most of the men present and the signals, hand-operated, are of the 'circle and crossbar' type.1999 October 19, John Pike, “Time Traveller: John Pike looks at 1000 years of Torbay’s history: Riot in the streets”, in Herald Express, Torquay, Devon, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17, column 5: