babbit

English

Noun

babbit (countable and uncountable, plural babbits)

1. Nonstandard spelling of babbitt.
   • 1886 July 15, The Wood-worker, volume 5, number 5:

     What is babbit metal? Why, it is an alloy composed of copper, tin and antimony. The quantities of each used vary with the toughness or hardness of the metal desired; and if my memory serves me right, this allow was named after Mr. Babbit, who was the inventor and patentee of a metal composed of the above-named metals.

   • 1890, Dickerman's United States Treasury Counterfeit Detector, A Notorious Counterfeiter, page 19:

     The materials used in the manufacture of the coin were silver and babbit metal.

   • 1892, Alexander Ritchie Leask, Triple and Quadruple Expansion Engines, and Boilers and Their Management:

     To pack the box, first insert next to the ring I a ring of round asbestos packing, then the smallest set of babbit metal rings; then insert alternately two coils of asbestos and the next smallest babbit ring, and so on, as shown on drawing, until the box is full, taking care to place the asbestos H and the metal rings G so that the joint spaces between the ends do not come together.

   • 1913, “Testing of Bearing Metals”, in Journal of the Institute of Metals, volume 10:

     The original "babbit metal" for lining bearings is a "tin-base" alloy containing about 90 per cent. tin, the remainder being copper and antimony.

   • 1917, “Letters from Marine Engineers”, in International Marine Engineering, volume 22, page 319:

     After removing the cap and wiping the journal dry, a set of leads is taken (for babbit bearings, soft lead wire should always be used. Never use fuse wire, as it will cut into the babbit rather than compress, as it is very hard.)

   • 1918 March 1, “Points on Babbiting”, in Power Plant Engineering, volume 22, page 213:

     In plants where the engineer has charge of the shafting, pulleys and belts, the bearings will sometimes get hot, and if this continues too long the babbit may melt.

   • 1930, Western Machinery and Steel World, volume 21, page 373:

     However, this impression is misleading, for to produce reliable and dependable babbitted bearings the workman must be trained, the babbit metal carefully selected, temperatures kept within well defined limits, and the tinning process and handling of the shells, mandrels and metals during the heating and pouring process must be given careful study and consideration.

   • 2012, David F. Tver, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Industrial Technology:

     True babbits are tin-base alloys strengthened by the presence of antimony and copper, and occasionally containing lead.

Verb

babbit (third-person singular simple present babbits, present participle babbiting, simple past and past participle babbited)

1. Nonstandard spelling of babbitt.
   • 1867 October 29, John Underwood, Improved Babbitting and Drilling Jig, US Patent 0070294 , page 1:

     The caps for these journal-boxes or bearings may be Babbited by this same jig, and they would, of course, exactly conform to the other portions of the bearings in the frame. […] This drilling jig is a negative of the interior of the frame. It has two sets of bearings, c d and e f, which are at right angles to each other, and which set in the longitudinal and transverse bearings that have been made and "Babbited" in the cast frame, and thus steady and hold it.

   • 1900 January 11, “Plans for Gas Engines”, in Steel and Iron, volume 66, number 2, page 22:

     […] a T mandrel centering in the cylinder or recess bored in the head of the frame or bed being used to babbit the main shaft boxes, this mandrel being provided with collars properly located so as to establish the length of the babbited surface in the box […]

   • 1917 December 1, “Bearings”, in Practical Engineer, volume 21, page 922:

     Crosshead pin boxes cannot be babbited in place, so it is obviously best to babbit the boxes on a mandrel of cast iron and of such shape that when ready to use it will resemble part of the crank disk with the pin in place.

   • 1921 May, David Baxter, “Further Uses for the Torch”, in Acetylene Journal: Devoted to Acetylene Lighting and Kindred Topics, volume 22:

     And he need not stop at that but may take up babbiting of all kinds of bearings.