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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.  2001-07.
 
ratchet and pawl
 
 
mechanical device that permits motion in one direction only. The ratchet is usually a wheel with slanting teeth. The pawl is a lever tangential to the wheel with one end resting on the teeth. When the wheel rotates one way, the pawl slides over the teeth; when the wheel rotates the other way, the pawl catches in the teeth.
 
 
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press.

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