Gusset vs Stiffener - What's the difference?
gusset | stiffener |
A small piece of cloth inserted in a garment, for the purpose of strengthening some part or giving it a tapering enlargement.
A small piece of mail, providing some protection where two plates of armor are joined, usually at the elbows, under the shoulders, and behind the knees.
(machinery) A kind of bracket, or angular piece of iron, fastened in the angles of a structure to give strength or stiffness; especially, the part joining the barrel and the fire box of a locomotive boiler.
(heraldiccharge) An abatement or mark of dishonor in a coat of arms, resembling a gusset.
(roofing) A large flat metal piece wider than the valley to help prevent build-up at the base of the valley, either from debris or ice dam formations.
Anything added to something in order to stiffen it, such as a support beam, or starch for a collar.
*1856: Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life & Every-day People [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02734176&id=SrTVMMbCz6cC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
*:... he wears a wisp of black silk round his neck, without any stiffener, as an apology for a neckerchief...
*1901: James Nisbit Hazlehurst, Towers and Tanks for Water-works: The Theory and Practice of Their Design and Construction [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03852204&id=YcmwlV8r9vsC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
*:...each of these stiffener'-columns must be designed to resist approximately 26 tons. Sometimes single angles are thus used as ' stiffeners ...
*1904: Edward L. Attwood, War-ships: A Text-book on the Construction, Protection, Stability, Turning, Etc., of War Vessels [http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN05000778&id=DjcOQwPkxX0C&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
*:The tee bar (b) is used as a stiffener to important bulkheads...
