The link is known by various names in various circumstances, such as coupling-rod, connectingrod, crank-rod, eccentric-rod, &c. It is attached to the pieces which it connects by two pins, about which it is free to turn.
Coupling of Parallel Axes.Two or more parallel shafts (such as those of a locomotive engine, with two or more pairs of driving wheels) are made to rotate with constantly equal angular velocities by having equal cranks, which are maintained parallel by a coupling-rod of such a length that the line of c000exion is equal to the distance between the axes.
To obviate the unsteadiness of motion which this tends to cause, the shafts are provided with a second set of cranks at right angles to the first, connected by means of a similar coupling-rod, so that one set of cranks pass their dead points at the instant when the other set are farthest from theirs.