サークリップ
スナップリング

■ A Circlip or snap-ring

"Circlip" is allegedly a trademark, but it is the generic British English term (thus normally not capitalised) for a C-shaped clip, either inner or outer, that goes in a groove around a rod or a cylindrical hole and retains a mating member in the axial direction. The most well-known example is probably the one at each end of the gudgeon pin (piston pin) which attaches the connecting rod to the piston in an internal combustion engine. Whether internal or external, it is generally shaped like a capital omega, with rings at each side of the opening in which you insert a very sharp pointed pair of pliers, lever it open, urge it over the end of the rod, and then it goes 'ping....' and you have to start all over again.
The usual American English equivalent is "snap-ring."

ピストンを外すにはラジオペンチで、サークリップを外しましょう
From http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~fwis4138/oh.htm

The following statistics from goo.ne.jp may be interesting:

サークリップ	83 hits
サークリップ + ピストン	25 hits
スナップリング	89 hits
スナップリング + ピストン	21 hits

This suggests that the originally British and American terms are about equally common, but both have a heavy association with internal combustion engines.

This entry was created by Brian Chandler.

Created 2000-06-28.