In his book "Shop Savvy" Roy Moungovan of Popular Science describes a flame
cutting guide which has a "clockwork governor" which travels a constant speed
regardless of irregularities in your pulling action. It is a magnetically
mounted device. It's pictured but not named on p. 58 of the edition I have. What
a great thing, but unfindable. Said to be a commercial product, I can find no
mention of it on the Web or anywhere in the Land of Google.

1. Anyone know what this device actually is, or where to get one?
2. How could such a speed governor work?

GWE

I once used one once for cutting flanges on beams over twenty years ago.
I did one cut and went back to my guide bar. Fiddling around with setting
it up and having the torch tip sitting in a bushing style guide did not
impress me. The one I used had magnets for holding it in place. Getting
everything lined up on the cut line was bothersome.
I have also used air motor and electric driven units for cutting circles
with a hand torch. I found them handy if you were cutting dozens of holes
that were identical.

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
In his book "Shop Savvy" Roy Moungovan of Popular Science describes a flame
cutting guide which has a "clockwork governor" which travels a constant
speed
regardless of irregularities in your pulling action. It is a magnetically
mounted device. It's pictured but not named on p. 58 of the edition I have.
What
a great thing, but unfindable. Said to be a commercial product, I can find
no
mention of it on the Web or anywhere in the Land of Google.

1. Anyone know what this device actually is, or where to get one?
2. How could such a speed governor work?

GWE

I have never heard of a clockwork governor much less seen one. But
from the description it sounds as if it has small wheels which are
geared to an escapment and balance wheel similar to a watch or
non-penduleum clock.

The closest thing I can think of that might be adapted would be a
childs toy car with a flywheel for power. A flywheel would smooth out
my erratic movements when using a cutting torch.

Dan

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have never heard of a clockwork governor much less seen one. But
from the description it sounds as if it has small wheels which are
geared to an escapment and balance wheel similar to a watch or
non-penduleum clock.

The closest thing I can think of that might be adapted would be a
childs toy car with a flywheel for power. A flywheel would smooth out
my erratic movements when using a cutting torch.

Nah... those governors were common on a lot of things that had to control
motion smoothly -- even down to revolving doors.

They worked on the principle of a flying-ball governor. Usually, the
"balls" were spring-loaded weighted brake shoes rotating inside a fixed
brake drum. (like a centrifugal clutch) The system naturally resists
spinning above a certain speed. Gear-up trains from the work to the
governor provided the correct "work" speed vs. the braking rpm of the
governor itself.

(Some modern revolving doors now use eddy-current braking, using permanent
magnets and aluminum armatures. Dunno if any of them still have clockwork
governors.)

LLoyd

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:01:39 GMT, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
wrote:


wrote in message
roups.com...
I have never heard of a clockwork governor much less seen one. But
from the description it sounds as if it has small wheels which are
geared to an escapment and balance wheel similar to a watch or
non-penduleum clock.

The closest thing I can think of that might be adapted would be a
childs toy car with a flywheel for power. A flywheel would smooth out
my erratic movements when using a cutting torch.

Nah... those governors were common on a lot of things that had to control
motion smoothly -- even down to revolving doors.

They worked on the principle of a flying-ball governor. Usually, the
"balls" were spring-loaded weighted brake shoes rotating inside a fixed
brake drum. (like a centrifugal clutch) The system naturally resists
spinning above a certain speed. Gear-up trains from the work to the
governor provided the correct "work" speed vs. the braking rpm of the
governor itself.

A very common example was the dial in a dial telephone. You "wound
it up" with your finger, then it returned to rest position at a set
speed, producing a series of pulses -- about 10 pulses per second.

In article 7H83f.186327$p_1.17709
@tornado.tampabay.rr.com,
says...

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have never heard of a clockwork governor much less seen one. But
from the description it sounds as if it has small wheels which are
geared to an escapment and balance wheel similar to a watch or
non-penduleum clock.

The closest thing I can think of that might be adapted would be a
childs toy car with a flywheel for power. A flywheel would smooth out
my erratic movements when using a cutting torch.

Nah... those governors were common on a lot of things that had to control
motion smoothly -- even down to revolving doors.

They worked on the principle of a flying-ball governor. Usually, the
"balls" were spring-loaded weighted brake shoes rotating inside a fixed
brake drum. (like a centrifugal clutch) The system naturally resists
spinning above a certain speed. Gear-up trains from the work to the
governor provided the correct "work" speed vs. the braking rpm of the
governor itself.

The dial on rotary telephones was another common use. In
those that I've taken apart there was a tiny worm and wheel
doing the speed-up.

Ned Simmons

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:36:38 -0700, Grant Erwin
wrote:

In his book "Shop Savvy" Roy Moungovan of Popular Science describes a flame
cutting guide which has a "clockwork governor" which travels a constant speed
regardless of irregularities in your pulling action. It is a magnetically
mounted device. It's pictured but not named on p. 58 of the edition I have. What
a great thing, but unfindable. Said to be a commercial product, I can find no
mention of it on the Web or anywhere in the Land of Google.

1. Anyone know what this device actually is, or where to get one?
2. How could such a speed governor work?

GWE
I wonder if the governor works like the ones on music boxes. The
little fan driven through gears so that it spins much faster that the
shaft being governed. Not completely clockwork, but pretty close.
ERS