pushbar

English

Etymology

From push +‎ bar.

Pronunciation

Noun

pushbar (plural pushbars)

  1. A rigid bar or configurable attachment mounted on machinery (such as cranes, loaders, or lift tables) used to push, align, or position loads—especially during material handling or implement installation.
    • 1879 August 26, “218,818 Shingle-Machines”, in Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office., volume 16, number 9, page 364:
      In a shingle-machine, the combination of the cam, pushbar, and lever with the hinged reciprocating feeder and cutter-head and the weighted cord for drawing the feeder toward the blank, as shown and described.
    • 1894 September, Franklin H. Hough, “Patents of Interest to Printers”, in The Inland Printer, volume 13, Chicago: The Inland Printer Company, page 530:
      One covers an apparatus for advancing and converging the type necessary to form a word so that they may be readily grasped by the compositor, and the other does away with the pushbar shown in the cut, which the compositor strikes as he grasps the type.
    • 1925 November, Homes and Gardens, volume 7, number 6, 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London, page xxvii:
      The pushbar switch controls the lamp, so that the light can be switched on or off while the iron is in use.
  2. (architecture, commercial building) A horizontal bar installed across the inside face of a swing door—often spring-loaded—that unlatches the door when pushed, enabling quick exit in emergencies.
    • 1950, The Ideal Kinema & Studio, volumes 16-17, Kinematograph, page 17:
      Most kinemas have outer exit doors in pairs, and, in the past, the practice has been to have these rebated on the centre meeting stiles, one door having a panic bolt and the other a pushbar which knocks against and thus operates the panic bolt.
    • 2019 April 18, Mason Cross, What She Saw Last Night, Orion, page 150:
      Shw saw the door with the pushbar and charged it, hands out, smashing the door open so hard that it hit off something outside and rebounded.
  3. (automotive, rail transport) A tubular or bar-shaped accessory mounted on the front bumper or chassis of a vehicle—especially trucks, SUVs, emergency service vehicles or locomotives—designed to push light loads (such as stalled vehicles) or guard against minor impacts without damaging the main bumper assembly.
    • 1887 August 4, O. J. Pfeiffer, M.D., “A Case of Double Dislocation of the Hip.”, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume CXVII, number 5, page 103:
      The child had been struck by the pushbar of the engine, knocked down head foremost, and in being passed over by the engine had been so gyrated that though she had fallen to the ground head foremost she was picked up with her head to the rear.
    • 2013 November, Shirley Muldowney, Tales from a Top Fuel Dragster: A Collection of the Greatest Drag Racing Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, page 1966:
      On our tow vehicle, which was a Buick Riviera, Jack had welded a horizontal pushbar that would meet the vertical bar in a criss-corss fashion.

Synonyms

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