A Light Flywheel

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18591, 29 December 1934, Page 9

A Light Flywheel

AN original form of engine flywheel has been patented by a French inventor, and is said to have given very satisfactory results. Its chief purpose is to enable the use of a light flywheel without any loss of the stabilising effect which a heavier wheel exercises ,on the smooth running of the engine. With high speed power units one of the problems of design is to make the flywheel light enough *to allow very fast acceleration of the engine revolutions without the consequent disadvantage of a marked loss of flywheel effect which in the event of any irregularity in the carburction ,or ignition helps to “iron out" the fault..

The invention referred to is a flywheel having movable weights in the form of rollers or steel balls which are free to .move in a series of circular chambers placed close tn the eireumferonce of the wheel. Their inertia, is is said, is employed so effectively that although the complete unit is much lighter than the ordinary flywheel of similar dimensions, it exerts a most powerful deterrent, action on irregular running of the engine. Fvcn a slight variation in the speed of the crankcase produces a rhythmic movement of the weights which quickly damps out the irregularity, and it. is claimed' that the weight ot the flywheel can be reduced by as much as 50 per cent.