Talk:Caster angle

Etymology
Does anybody know where caster angle comes from? I believe it comes from the caster wheel, used on shopping carts, where the steering axis is in front of the wheel, creating trail. According to an etymology database, the word cast can mean to turn.

Atlesn (talk) 23:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

a
Note that while 'caster' is a very common mispelling, it really should be 'castor'. Google hits that exclude references to this article or copies of it return far more for 'castor angle' than 'caster angle'. However since 'castor angle' exists and already redirects here, a swap is needed by an admin.
 * Are you sure? "Caster angle" gets 73 hits in Google Scholar, three times as many as "castor angle". Rd232 talk 13:30, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm very sure it's 'castor', my dictionary confirms it (with caster meaning a small bottle for sprinkling something, and caster sugar) - but it does seem to be an extremely common misspelling, which could be skewing the hits. Graham 23:02, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Page moved per request and spelling. Rob Church Talk 12:36, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Umm— the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, lists "caster" for "the angular inclination of a steering pivot or kingpin", and "castor" is only the substance secreted by beavers.

Google yields 25000 instances of "caster angle" and 850 of "castor angle" [excluding all occurrences within wikipedia.org]. Stephan Leeds 14:33, 26 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition) defines it as castor-"the slight usual backward tilt of the upper end of the kingbolt of an automobile for giving directional stability to the front wheels". I believe that slipping spelling standards on the internet (everybody has voice, which is good) allows for greater instances of "caster". Do a search on the UK or Aussie Google and you will probably see "castor" more often than "caster"  --Sirimiri 18:14, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

b
Sadly at least two of my suspension/dynamics textbooks use caster, as does the Bosch Automotive Handbook, and the SAE. ,. 06:33, 27 November 2005 (UTC)~

c
How about CASTR? Mrshell 02:04, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

d
I suggest that this page could be improved with more explanation of "trail" or "mechanical trail" preferably with a diagram or modification to the existing diagram. Eeno11 (talk) 11:28, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

possibility of merger
Bicycle_and_motorcycle_geometry discusses rake and trail which seems essentially the same as what is duscussed here. Vespine (talk) 01:55, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Caster angle is used to describe automobile geometry. Rake and trail are bike specific. -AndrewDressel (talk) 03:08, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Doesn't help that there is a picture of a motorbike on the caster angle page but no mention of rake and trail. I might try to write that into the opening paragraph.. Vespine (talk) 06:05, 22 June 2009 (UTC)