For the comic strip about an old, curmudgeonly bus driver, see Crankshaft . marine crankshafts, 1942]], DOHC piston engine. (E) Exhaust camshaft, (I) Intake camshaft, (S) Spark plug, (V) Valve, (P) Piston, (R) Connecting rod, (C) Crankshaft, (W) Water jacket for coolant flow.]] The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation. It typically connects to a flywheel, to reduce the pulsation characteristic of the four-stroke cycle, and sometimes a torsional or vibrational damper at the opposite end, to reduce the torsion vibrations often caused along the length of the crankshaft by the cylinders farthest from the output end acting on the torsional elasticity of the metal. The crankshaft was invented in the 13th century by al-Jazari, an Arabian inventor from Mesopotamia (Iraq).Ahmad Y Hassan,

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