dumb-ironn.
/ˈdʌmʌɪən/, U.S. /ˈdəmˌaɪ(ə)rn/ A carriage-spring composed of two half-elliptic springs joined at the ends. In the chassis of a motor car, each of the pair of curved forward ends of the frame-side members to which one end of each front spring is fixed. (See also quot. 1963.)
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > type of spring
cee spring1794
bow-spring1840
tension spring1877
dumb-iron1907
1907 Westm. Gaz. 19 Dec. 4/2 The distinctive frame is of pressed steel, slightly narrowed from the dashboard, tapered, and turned down in front so as to form its own dumb-irons, thus making the connexion for the forward ends of the springs.
1920 London Mag. June 334/1 The sharp dumb-irons dug into the bank, and the car reared itself on end.
1928 Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 17 Sankey's tool box..which fills the usual blank space between the dumb irons, curved to follow the line of the dumb iron.
1963 R. F. Webb Motorists' Dict. 86 Dumb irons, the portions of the chassis of a car which carry the shackles for the front springs. Recently the term has also come to mean the iron or steel supports carrying the fenders or bumpers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1907