Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A heavy-rimmed rotating wheel used to minimize variations in angular velocity and revolutions per minute, as in a machine subject to fluctuation in drive and load.
- noun An analogous device, especially one used to regulate the speed of clockwork.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In machinery, a wheel with a heavy rim placed on the revolving shaft of any machinery put in motion by an irregular or intermitting force or meeting with an irregular or intermittent resistance, for the purpose of rendering the motion equable and regular by means of its momentum.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A heavy wheel or disk which stores kinetic energy by rotating on a shaft, and by its momentum smoothes the operation of a reciprocating engine by reducing fluctuations of speed. It is used in certain types of machinery, such as automobiles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
rotating mass used tomaintain thespeed of amachine within certainlimits while the machinereceives orreleases energy at avarying rate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun regulator consisting of a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A CVT-controlled flywheel is particularly suited to stop-start driving situations when real-world fuel economy is often at its worst.
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Kinetic Traction Systems Inc. is a provider of so-called flywheel power for rail systems.
Clean-Tech Ventures See Plunge in Funding Yuliya Chernova 2010
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Near the flywheel was the maker badge, a repeat of the design on the glass cover, but here the stars were inlaid with small diamond-cut rubies, and the lightning bolts were coated with alternating layers of gold and silver.
The Safe 2006
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Near the flywheel was the maker badge, a repeat of the design on the glass cover, but here the stars were inlaid with small diamond-cut rubies, and the lightning bolts were coated with alternating layers of gold and silver.
The Safe 2006
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The flywheel, which is 4 m. in diameter, serves at the same time as a driving pulley.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 Various
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Attached to the flywheel is a pitman rod which raises and lowers a churn dasher.
Agricultural Implements and Machines in the Collection of the National Museum of History and Technology Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, No. 17 John T. Schlebecker
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Torotrak is a UK-based company that's developing a technology called a flywheel hybrid.
WN.com - Articles related to Test your fuel-economy know-how 2010
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A flywheel is a mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy.
eWeek - RSS Feeds 2010
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Now, it's expected that all vehicles will make a good bit less power at the wheels than at the engine's flywheel, which is how they are rated from the factory.
Autoblog 2010
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Torotrak is a UK-based company that's developing a technology called a flywheel hybrid.
WN.com - Articles related to Test your fuel-economy know-how 2010
jboyd commented on the word flywheel
Used by Roger Ebert in his 2011 memoir, Life Itself, in a way I can't find a good definition for: "…Aleister Crowley…was a flywheel but surely wrote one of the best Edwardian autobiographies…" (204).
December 10, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word flywheel
Perhaps Ebert was suggesting that Crowley moved under his own inertia, by his own (some would think) strange lights, throwing off energy as he spun through life.
December 10, 2011