. The Locomotive . ecked flywheeldoes not clearly show that it was a complete loss. Such, however, wasthe case. The wheel in question was nine feet in diameter and wasused in connection with a refrigerating engine. By the lucky coin-cidence that someone happened to be near the trottle and closed it atthe moment the engine started to race, a complete disruption of thewheel was prevented. The wheel rim must have attained a consider-able velocity as the links forming the rim-joints had stretched fullyan inch due to the centrifugal force tending to separate the two halvesof the wheel. These links,
. The Locomotive . ecked flywheeldoes not clearly show that it was a complete loss. Such, however, wasthe case. The wheel in question was nine feet in diameter and wasused in connection with a refrigerating engine. By the lucky coin-cidence that someone happened to be near the trottle and closed it atthe moment the engine started to race, a complete disruption of thewheel was prevented. The wheel rim must have attained a consider-able velocity as the links forming the rim-joints had stretched fullyan inch due to the centrifugal force tending to separate the two halvesof the wheel. These links, which are round and of steel, are inside of the rim, asuitable recess being left in the rim to receive them, and they aresecured to the rim sections by means of cotter keys. The only visibleparts of the rim joint, therefore, after the wheel is assembled, are theends of the cotter keys. They can be distinctly seen in the illustration,as can also the separation of the rim at the joint due to the stretch ofthe FLYWHEEL WITHLINK JOINT Fig. 2 FLYWHEEL WITHFLANGE JOINT When the links commenced to stretch, such a severe strain wastransmitted through the arms to the hub-bolts that two of them brokeoff and one section of the hub itself split in two, while one arm wascompletely broken free from the rest of the wheel. While this is a good illustration how a flywheel of this type willexplode if given sufficient speed, the case strikingly demonstrates thesuperiority of the link type of rim joint over the kind of joint formedby bolted flanges that are located in the rim midway between arms. From the experience had with flywheel rims of the two types shownin Figure 2 it is safe to say that, had it been of the flange joint type. 1(3 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [January, the rim would have disrupted before reaching anywhere near the veloc-ity which produced the considerable stretching of the steel links. The link type of rim joint when properly proportioned is thestrongest possible joint. In calcu
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