stuffing box

plural stuffing boxes · alternative stuffing-box

1. engineeringAn assembly containing a seal, or sealing material, around a shaft.

   The regulator in the dome is of the vertical grid type, operated by an external pull rod connected to a transverse shaft which works through a stuffing box on the second barrel plate.

   1951 June, “British Railways Standard Class "5" 4-6-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 399

   2 more examples

   ; the lower diaphragm forms a surface to be pressed upon by the column of water above the tap, which pressure by means of the upright spindle connecting it with d, pulls down the upper diaphragm, and forms a perfect valve and stuffing box, whereby the escape of the liquid is entirely prevented.

   1847, editorial staff, “Improvement in Water Taps, Cister Valves, &c. ”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68

   Packing in the stuffing-boxes, through which the piston-rods pass at the end of the cylinder, and so arranged to keep the cylinders steam-tight, at times become loose or displaced, and in such conditions steam may pass with considerable violence out of the cylinder by way of the stuffing-box, giving an acoustic effect somewhat resembling that of an engine with cylinder-cocks open, except that the noise heard is intermittent and not practically continuous, as when the cylinder cocks are open.

   1943 September and October, “The Why and the Wherefore: Locomotive Cylinder Drain Cocks”, in Railway Magazine, page 319