Excerpt from A Power Primer: An Introduction to the Internal Combustion Engine, Automobile, Aircraft, Diesel The connecting rod is a straight rod with one end fastened to a pin or pivot in the piston so the lower end can swing. The crank shaft is a shaft with its ends mounted in oiled bear ings so it can revolve, and thus the offset portion in the middle, the crank, describes a circle as the shaft turns around. The lower end of the connecting rod is fastened to the crank, so it must follow the same circular path. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.