flywheel

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flywheel

flywheel heavy metal wheel attached to a drive shaft, having most of its weight concentrated at the circumference. Such a wheel resists changes in speed and helps steady the rotation of the shaft where a power source such as a piston engine exerts an uneven torque on the shaft or where the load is intermittent, as in piston pumps or punches. By slowly increasing the speed of a flywheel a small motor can store up energy that, if released in a short time, enables the motor to perform a function for which it is ordinarily too small. The flywheel was developed by James Watt in his work on the steam engine.

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flywheel

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | © The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

fly·wheel / ˈflīˌ(h)wēl/ • n. a heavy revolving wheel in a machine that is used to increase the machine's momentum and thereby provide greater stability or a reserve of available power during interruptions in the delivery of power to the machine.

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"flywheel." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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