Pereza

English translation: looseness/slackness

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:Pereza
English translation:looseness/slackness
Entered by: Lee Roby

15:41 Sep 13, 2013
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Mechanics / Mech Engineering
Spanish term or phrase: Pereza
This is the procedure for calibrating scales (for weighing during production processes).

The only thing I can think of for pereza is "slack", not sure if it makes any sense though, not really my field of expertise.

Thanks in advance.

"Antes de proceder a realizar las mediciones, ha de someterse la balanza a una operación de eliminación de posible pereza.

Para ello, se aplicará al mensurando una masa igual a la del fondo de escalas siempre que sea posible, y a continuación se dejará decrecer lentamente el valor de las masas hasta llegar al valor cero."
Lee Roby
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:41
looseness/slackness
Explanation:
I think "slack" is on the right track.
Some other options: looseness or slackness

"eliminating possible looseness/slackness"

Here is another approach:

"eliminación de posible pereza" --> tightening
Selected response from:

Ronaldo Bassini
United States
Local time: 01:41
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4looseness/slackness
Ronaldo Bassini
4calibrated against inaccuracy
Gordon Byron
4sense of deflection
ROLANDO SALAZAR
2sluggishness
Charles Davis


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


51 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
looseness/slackness


Explanation:
I think "slack" is on the right track.
Some other options: looseness or slackness

"eliminating possible looseness/slackness"

Here is another approach:

"eliminación de posible pereza" --> tightening

Ronaldo Bassini
United States
Local time: 01:41
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
calibrated against inaccuracy


Explanation:
Why not simply use "calibrate" and "inaccuracy"? That gets the meaning across.

Gordon Byron
Spain
Local time: 10:41
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: I haven't selected this but think it certainly conveys the meaning.

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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
sluggishness


Explanation:
I have searched high and low for this and not come up with an established equivalent English term. And indeed, I don't think "pereza" is an established technical term in Spanish either; references are pretty few. I think it's a loose descriptive term.

I am very doubtful that it means "looseness" or "slackness". I can't see how the load reduction exercise that they propose in your text as a solution can eliminate looseness. If something is loose you solve that by tightening it. Loading the scale to full capacity and then reducing the load is surely going to make it looser, if anything, rather than tighter. I think the connection from "pereza" to "slack" and from "slack" to "loose" is probably a false one.

More likely, to me, is that "pereza" means that the scale is unresponsive or slow to respond.

One Spanish text that does give us a clue, I think, is this one (which I notice was quoted over on the Translator's Café discussion of this term):

"Cargar la balanza dos veces hasta el fondo de escala para eliminar la posible pereza o pegado de la "cruz"."
http://www.matematicasypoesia.com.es/metodos/mecweb08.htm

Over on TC someone said this was "looseness" and "sticking", but I don't think so; I think the two words refer to basically the same phenomenon, a "laziness" or "stickiness" in the mechanism that is actually loosened up by loading and unloading the scale a couple of times.

Actually this operation is mentioned in EN documents on calibrating scales, and it's called "exercising" the scale:

"In order to ensure that the scale is ready to operate over its full range of motion, the best practice is to exercise the scale prior to performing calibration. This involves loading up the scale with the maximum weight it can read and unloading it at least a couple of times."
http://www.google.com/patents/US7681431

As I say, I haven't been able to pin down a word commonly used for this phenomenon in English, and I've tried everything I can think of. There is "drift", which Phil mentioned, but that's an electrical or temperature-related malfunction, not a mechanical one (as this evidently is). And there's also "creep", but I don't think it's that either:

"CREEP
The change in load cell output occurring with time, while under load, and with all environmental conditions and other variables remaining constant; usually measured with Rated Load applied and expressed as a percent of Rated Output over a specific period of time."
http://www.ricelake.com/glossary.aspx

I think "sluggishness", which is close in meaning to "pereza", would express this. Exercising the scale and performing the load reduction exercise serve to eliminate sluggishness and stickiness in the operation of the scale. This other text also cited in the TC discussion suggests this to me too:

"Indicios de fricción en un manómetro son el desplazamiento "perezoso" de la aguja o movimientos erráticos de la misma."
http://www.equiposylaboratorio.com/sitio/contenidos_mo.php?i...

And here, albeit on a different kind of scale, is a use of "sluggish" which sounds to me as though it's describing a similar phenomenon:

"Friction at weighbeam bearings may reduce the sensitivity of the scale, cause sluggish weighbeam action and affect weighing accuracy."
https://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/juris/j0642_27.sgml

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Note added at 4 hrs (2013-09-13 20:24:47 GMT)
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Sorry, what I've been referring to as "load reduction" is actually called the "decreasing load test".

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 10:41
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 56
Notes to answerer
Asker: I think this is a variation on the looseness. It's unresponsive because it is loose, I may be wrong of course but your help has been extremely instructive, thanks.

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1 day 6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
sense of deflection


Explanation:
An explanation

ROLANDO SALAZAR
Local time: 04:41
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
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