A power take-off or power takeoff (PTO) is a term for methods of taking power from an operating power source, such as a running engine, which can be used to provide power to attachments or separate machines.
Most commonly, it is a splined driveshaft on a tractor or truck designed so that a PTO shaft, a kind of drive shaft, can be easily connected and disconnected. The power take-off allows implements to draw energy from the engine.
Semi-permanently mounted power take-offs can also be found on industrial and marine engines. These applications typically use a drive shaft and bolted joint to transmit power to a secondary implement or accessory. In the case of a marine application, such shafts may be used to power fire pumps.
In aircraft applications, such an accessory drive may be used in conjunction with a constant speed drive. Jet aircraft may have permanently installed PTO shafts which are used to power engine accessories. In some cases, aircraft power take-off systems also provide for putting power into the engine during engine start.
Read more about Power Take-off: History, Safety, Technical Standardization, Commercial Vehicle PTOs
Famous quotes containing the word power:
“Nature’s law says that the strong must prevent the weak from living, but only in a newspaper article or textbook can this be packaged into a comprehensible thought. In the soup of everyday life, in the mixture of minutia from which human relations are woven, it is not a law. It is a logical incongruity when both strong and weak fall victim to their mutual relations, unconsciously subservient to some unknown guiding power that stands outside of life, irrelevant to man.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)