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

female Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females an ...

'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a

pintle A pintle is a pin or bolt, usually inserted into a gudgeon, which is used as part of a pivot or hinge. Other applications include pintle and lunette ring for towing, and pintle pins securing casters in furniture. Use Pintle/gudgeon sets have m ...

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 ''gudgeon'' derives from the Middle English ''gojoun'', which originated from the Middle French ''goujon''. 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 was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, winged gudgeons were used to support

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

shafts, and later, steam engine shafts.

Gudgeon pin

In engines, a

gudgeon pin In internal combustion engines, the gudgeon pin (UK, wrist pin or piston pin US) 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 (2007) "The Recipro ...

(UK, wrist pin US) joins the small end of a

connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the crankshaf ...

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 and is made gas-tig ...

crosshead In mechanical engineering, a crosshead is a mechanical joint used as part of the slider-crank linkages of long reciprocating engines (either internal combustion or steam) and reciprocating compressors to eliminate sideways force on the piston. ...

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, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

, 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, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse ya ...

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 or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

. 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 A plain bearing, or more commonly sliding contact bearing and slide bearing (in railroading sometimes called a solid bearing, journal bearing, or friction bearing), is the simplest type of bearing, comprising just a bearing surface and no rolli ...

) 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