A gudgeon is a socket-like, cylindrical (i.e., ''

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a pintle fitting, the male counterpart to the gudgeon, enabling an interpivoting connection that can be easily separated. Designs that may use gudgeon and pintle connections include hinges, shutters and boat rudders.Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G & C Merriam Company, 1963, p. 370 The word ''gudgeon'' derives from the Middle English ''gojoun'', from the Middle French ''goujon'', which had the opposite meaning of a dowel or pin. Its first known use was in the 15th century.

Types of gudgeons

Winged gudgeons

A winged gudgeon is one that has extensions that increase its ability to adhere to the fixed surface. At the beginning of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, winged gudgeons were used to support

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

shafts, and later, steam engine shafts.

Gudgeon pin

This is a crucial component of

piston engines A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of all ...

. The British refer to a

gudgeon pin In internal combustion engines, the gudgeon pin (English, wrist pin or piston pin US English) connects the piston to the connecting rod, and provides a bearing for the connecting rod to pivot upon as the piston moves.Nunney, Malcolm James (200 ...

which joins the small end of a

connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a reciprocating engine, piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank (mechanism), crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the p ...

to a

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

or crosshead. In

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

this can be referred to as a wrist pin.

Usage

Buildings

In buildings pintles and gudgeons are used for working shutters. Shutters were traditionally used to protect the glazing as well as help keep heat in the building at night during the colder months. Shutters are experiencing a comeback as protection from wind-borne storm debris. Architects have made use of both reclaimed historical shutter hardware as well as used stainless sailing hardware for new projects. Other uses are closet doors, barn doors, storm doors, etc. All uses require hold backs of some sort to keep shutter or door from "flapping in the wind".

Sailing

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

, pintles insert into gudgeons that are normally affixed to the transom of a boat. Normally, the corresponding pintle fitting on the rudder slides, lowers or clips into the gudgeon. There are variations where gudgeons are mounted to the rudder and boat, and a pivot clevis pin is inserted into these gudgeons, or the pintles are fastened to the boat, and gudgeons are attached to the rudder. In any case, the fitting with the hole is referred to as a gudgeon. They are used to attach the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

to the boat so that it can swing freely. The rudder can then be turned with the

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn ...

. There must be at least two gudgeon/pintle sets for stability in the rudder's attachment to the transom. The pintles must face the same direction for insertion into the gudgeons and usually one is a bit longer so it can be the first into its gudgeon, giving some stability for the insertion of the other pintle. To prevent the rudder from rising out of the gudgeons there is often some preventer such as rudder weight or a locking device slid across the path of the pintle's removal from the upper gudgeon (also referred to as a ''Rudder Stop''). High-quality gudgeons have bushings, (

plain bearing file:NYC 100-driving-axle-friction-bearing.jpg, Plain bearing on a 1906 S-Motor locomotive showing the axle, bearing, oil supply and oiling pad file:Linear-table with detail numbered.png, A sliding table with four cylindrical bearings file:GWR Spo ...

) either a solid sleeve, flanged or clenched. This will allow for smoother operation of the helm and preserve the pintles and gudgeons. A bushing can be seen as "consumable". On some boats there are split pins/split rings through the pintail to stop gudgeons lifting. In addition while the bottom fitting is a gudgeon turning on a pintail the upper two fittings are a pair of gudgeons each with a pin joining them with split pin/washer to stop them coming out.

Lock Gates

In shipping locks, the upper pivot point for a miter gate is referred to as the gudgeon, and carries horizontal loads caused by a gate leaf hanging with no water load. The lower pivot, which carries the weight of the leaf, is referred to as the pintle.

Notes

{{Sister bar, wikt=gudgeon, auto=1, d=y Bearings (mechanical) Fasteners Hardware (mechanical) ru:Цапфа