Mini Bomb?

[Garabaldi]

Should I push it down?
Not sure if this is some kind of knob? Any guesses?

 

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[Iron Patch]

From a bell maybe. The "clanger"

 

[Tony in SC]

Could Be part of an old flyball governor. Tony

 

[Garabaldi]

Could Be part of an old flyball governor. Tony

What is an old flyball governor?

 

[johnnyi]

Tony, I was thinking the same thing, except if it was a governor ball it would have a finger at the tee. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of one ver being there, and it looks a little weak to hold one too. What do you think?

 

[boondocker]

Gary a fly ball governer is a divice on a steam engine that governs the speed. It's kind of cool it sits on top of the boiler and spins around there are 2 balls per govener opposite eachother when it starts to spin the centrifigal force causes the balls to start to rise the faster it goes or more steam it produces the higher they go until horizantal, plus they do other technical stuff that I just cant remember at this moment dean

 

[Garabaldi]

Good explanation boondocker. This one seems to be a mystery. Seems like some type of knob to something.

 

[CRUSADER]

put it down quick & run for your life.......................................

 

[Garabaldi]

 

[johnnyi]

Garibaldi, is this thing very light weight? Have you seen whether it will float in water?

 

[Garabaldi]

Its heavy so I suspect it will not float.

 

[mojjax]

I like Tony's governor idea . There are lots of different styles .

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&q=Flyball+Governor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[Tnmountains]

Here is one a friend of mine is working on i took some shots of. Its the red ball or balls. That looks to be a little small unless it was a very small steam engine.This one was pulled by mule to run a thrasher or mech farm equiptment. The parts up there were called perfect governor if I remember correctly when we were researching parts.

 

[Garabaldi]

I like Tony's governor idea . There are lots of different styles .

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&q=Flyball+Governor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

The balls on the sites look an awful lot like mine. 8)
Rando, great connection. Iv'e heard that all my life and now know where it comes from.

Could Be part of an old flyball governor. Tony

I think Tony got it, anybody else agree?

 

[Rmeav8r]

Just another comment on the governor discussion; even though this is "old technology" this type of fly-weight governor is still used today on aircraft propeller governors.

http://www.thaitechnics.com/propeller/prop_control_2.html

 

[TiredIron]

" Ball to the Walls"

Another origin: In aviation, the throttles (or power levers) are usually sticks with ball shaped ends. When a pilot wants full power, he moves the throttle forward towards the front wall of the cockpit. Thus, "balls to the walls" meant "full power". And in automobiles....its "pedal to the Metal".

Look at this example from a Sawmill....
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2428/3664610901_b3fb2a0f5e.jpg

Also it should be noted that with a "Fly Ball Governor" of which you speak, there are linkage arms connected to the Ball pivot points. The idea isn't to get the balls slung as high as possible...but as the balls do rise higher with increase in RPM the linkage controls a valve that regulates the "power source" and reduces the power back to the desired RPM....thus "governing the RPM". Todays vehicles usually have an electronic speed limiter that governs the top speed to about 95-98 mph.(thank God for 60's muscle cars). The Fly Ball design has been used to control steam, fuel, and or ignition on stationary engines of all sorts.
DFX is correct in that Constant Speed Propellers us a similar technology except there are no "balls"...but are counter weighted (as he shows) to shove the prop into High Pitch if the engine looses power and a pressure over ride to feather them if necessary. Good comparison.
I have better than a dozen stationary engines that have fly ball governor weights and some are as small as a pecan...in mass. I was also noticing from your pictures that the arm extending out from the ball appears to have a purposeful offset to allow the balls to hang or maybe float. I wonder of you lubed it up it might come free and actually pivot.....just thinkin'
Also....if a governor or control valve sticks...and an engine runs away in rpm,
it can reach a point were things start to self destruct...and if those balls came loose...they could indeed become deadly projectiles. So your original comment of "small bomb"....might be more correct than you think. Its happened.
Mojjax..... Very cool illustration website. I'll save that one, thanks.

I think its Tony for the Win.

TiredIron

 

[hammered]

I like Tony's governor idea . There are lots of different styles .

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&q=Flyball+Governor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

The balls on the sites look an awful lot like mine. 8)
Rando, great connection. Iv'e heard that all my life and now know where it comes from.

Could Be part of an old flyball governor. Tony

I think Tony got it, anybody else agree?

You poor sod.......oops sorry I see what you mean now

 

[Garabaldi]

hammered...
Tirediron, you are the man when it comes to engine tech talk, wow. Tony does get the game ball.
Thanks for all the info.

 

[GL]

If thats a governor weight and it broke off during operation then there might be iron in the vicinity from the engine exploding. A boiler exploding would be exactly like a steam bomb and would surely kill anything nearby.

 

[johnnyi]

I guess we'll call this a governor ball . I'll lay twenty bucks to a doughnut it's not one though. There are no fingers or remains where fingers were attached. There are no remains for lower linkage if it was that type. I don't know what it is, maybe a free swinging counter weight of some kind, but governor it ain't. (MHO)