Weird contraption on generator

[Oct52zwitter]

Hi I wonder if anyone might know what this does or may have seen anything like this before it's welded onto the fan nut on the end of my generator. I've probably got 30 thousand miles on the car and it's not affected anything but I've always wondered what it's for. If anyone could enlighten me that'll be great .

[Danwvw]

Wow, Wonder what whoever made it was trying to have it do? It obviously conserves momentum. Looks like it needs Oil. Maybe increases MPG's.
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1960 Beetle And 1679cc DP W-100 & Dual Zeniths!

[VW_Jimbo]

Is it an early clutch device to disengage the fan. Maybe during warm up?
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[chthemonkey]

could it be a homemade balancer where weights screw into those holes

[geneL3c]

Whatever it is, it can't be doing any favors to the rear generator bearing ! Might be something that someone forgot to remove ?

[mackaymanx]

[Oct52zwitter]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas what it could be. It's now been removed. I couldn't get my grinder to reach the welds on the nut so had to chop it up into bits. I was wondering if it was fitted to an industrial engine at some point . I guess the only guy that knows is the one who made and fitted it.

[yellowcrawler]

It reminds me of a speed governor. It looks like the weights were removed. As the speed would increase, the bar in the center would slide away from the generator, towards the spring from centrifugal force. But why was it done?

[geneL3c]

If it was a governor of some kind, I doubt it would fit into an engine compartment, so the industrial engine theory would make sense.

[Wade]

OK. I'll play. . I say that the stock rear fan nut that you can see has been gutted such that it somehow holds the fan simply by pressure from the added spring thing. So, when the fan gets going fast enough, the centrifugal force of the weights on the device pull the nut rearward, thereby releasing the fan and letting it spin freely.

Not sure why you'd want to do that, but it's all I can come up with.

-Greg

[FarmerBill]

Oh,Oh! I have a guess! I think it might be some sort of ball governor missing the weights (balls). But instead of dis-engaging the fan it would push on a rod fitted into the hole on the end of the shaft. As the speed increased the more it pushed. As to what the rod was connected to... Throttle? Some sort of homebuilt flyball tachometer? Who knows.

[sinclair]

Yes thats a centrifugal governor. But if its welded to the nut which is screwed onto the dynamo shaft then its not releasing the fan, so I expect there was a rod down the centre that engaged with something. Might have beed an industrial engine set up at some point. Maybe a speed vs load device.

[heimlich]

Clean it up a little bit. After you have it cleaned up hold the pulley where the belt connects and then try to turn it to see if it puts pressure on the spring.
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[Martin Southwell]

That spring looks pretty well compressed already. The problem is with this contraption being in the situation it is, it will impede the airflow into the eye of the fan, and reduce the output. Appears to have been designed and built by a certain Mr Heath Robinson!