Trunnion

A Trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used for mounting.

In a cannon, a trunnion is either of the two projections off the side of the barrel which mount the barrel in the carriage.

In steam locomotives it's a support gudgeon on either side of an oscillating steam cylinder. It is usually tubular and conveys steam.

On communication satellites, the antennas are usually mounted on a pair of trunnions to allow the beam pattern to be correctly pointed on the Earth from the geostationary orbit.

On firearms, the barrel is sometimes mounted in a trunnion, which in turn is mounted to the receiver. This usage is most widespread in the case of the AK-47 rifle and its variants.

In older cars esp. by Triumph Motor Company the trunnion is part of the suspension and allows free movement of either the rear wheel hub in relation to the chassis or allows the front wheel hub to rotate with the steering. On many cars the trunnion is machined from a brass or bronze casting and is prone to failure.

Trunnion bearings

These are self contained concentric bearings that are designed to offer fluid movement in a critical area of the steering (In Avionics) Also used to describe the wheel that a rotating cylinder runs on; For example a lapidiary (stone polishing) cylinder runs on a pair of rollers, similar to trunnions. The Sugar Industry uses rotating cylinders up to 6.7 metres diameter and 40 metres long weighing around 1000 Tonnes. These rotate at around 30 revolutions per hour. They are supported on a Pathring which runs on Trunnions. Similar devices called Rotary Kilns are used in Cement Manufacture.

Reference

http://www.cape-international.com/suspension_and_steering.tpl

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