pre-load, n.
[pre- A. 2.]
A load applied beforehand; spec. (a) one in a bearing or machine part (see preload v.); (b) the tension in heart muscle at the end of diastole.
| 1941 Motor Commerce July 25/3 Adjust the pinion assembly to the correct bearing pre-load of 12 to 17 in.-lbs., and lock the adjusting nuts in position by a lock-washer. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) (B ed.) 3 Nov. 36/4 This earth pile acts as a preload or surcharge on the subsoil... The preload or surcharge is to get a settlement of the earth before the towers are constructed. 1962 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CCII. 936/1 Theoretically, with no load on the muscle, the velocity of shortening is maximal... Experimentally, the closest one can approach such a condition with heart muscle is to use the smallest preload from which a contraction occurs that produces analysable data. 1970 Circulation Res. XXVI. 114/1 The muscle is pre-stretched to a certain initial length using a ‘preload’, P, and temporarily fixed at that length. 1971 J. J. Gregory in Ayres & Gregory Cardiol. xii. 225 Just as ventricular function may be evaluated by change in afterload, interventions that alter preload may also be utilized to test myocardial function. 1971 Power Farming Mar. 71/1 Dynamic loading in a tightened bolt may vary from no stress at all to that exceeding the bolt's preload. 1972 H. E. Ellinger Automechanics xxiii. 400 Pinion preload is sufficient to eliminate any end play in the pinion shaft and still low enough to prevent bearing damage. 1976 Circulation LIII. 298/2 In the intact heart it is impossible to completely separate preload from afterload. |