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Chris's Porter Governor Build

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crueby:
So, I've decided on building a model of the Porter style governor, based on the original patent and pictures of the patent model which I found online. Here is the CAD model drawing I did:

As with the patent model, it will be driven by a hand crank to demonstrate how it works. This style governor used much lighter flyballs than most other designs, and ran at a higher speed, and used a sliding counterweight on the output lever to make it more responsive. They were produced and used on engines, so it was not just a patent idea. I'll be making mine with 1" flyballs and the hoop is about 8 inches across.
I got the hoop made yesterday and this morning. The original design had a hoop with a wider base/narrower top, but I had a couple lengths of flat brass bar 1" wide and rounded on one side - it was made for use as the stem band on a boat, one of my cousins had some left over and gave it to me years ago. After cleaning off the layers of dust from sitting out in the garage for years, I took a look at rolling the bend into it, but my slip roll is too small/light to form this bar, which is about 1/4" thick in the center. So, I annealed the center with a torch, let it cool, and hand formed it over a piece of pipe. The pipe was several inches smaller than the bend needed, so it was done by eye, with a couple rounds of adjusting in the vise to get an even curve the right diameter.

After sanding off all the tarnish with a 1/4 sheet palm sander, it was given a spray of clear enamel to protect the finish. Looks much nicer after the cleanup!

Then I needed to drill the mounting holes for the base, the swivels, and cut a slot for the lever arm. Doing all this before rolling it would have been very difficult, getting the holes to end up in the right places would have been a nightmare. So, with it shaped, I set up on the mil the drill the mounting holes. The other leg of the hoop just clears the top of the headstock. If it did not, I could have put the other leg below the table, but it was easier to drill into the flat side.
Also milled the slot for the lever arm, which gets moved up and down as the flyballs move in and out - the end of this arm would be connected to the steam or cutoff valves, depending on the engine.

There is a large hole at the top of the hoop to hold the top of the center pivot rod. I marked the location with the hoop standing on the table, and set it up to drill on the mill. The vise needed to be turned to let the legs clear the headstock, they would not quite span the motor when lined up with the table. A bearing will go in this hole.

Final step this morning was to make the crossbars to bolt the hoop to the base plate. The top corners are rounded off around the hoop, though thats hard to see in this picture.

Next up will be to make the base plate. Probably will use some aluminum sheet stock for that.
And yes, the Diesbar engine is still on the bench, having fun running that on the side...

Sanjay F:
and you're off and running again! Will be watching along as usual  :popcorn: :ThumbsUp:

Are there pictures of the governor fixed to an actual engine?

cnr6400:
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: A great start Chris.
But if you see the shop elves making a bunch of croquet mallets and wood balls it may be wise to lock the hoop up somewhere!  :Lol:

crueby:

--- Quote from: Sanjay F on August 31, 2026, 04:43:57 pm ---and you're off and running again! Will be watching along as usual  :popcorn: :ThumbsUp:

Are there pictures of the governor fixed to an actual engine?

--- End quote ---
Yes - do a search for the Porter-Allen engine, should see some. I've seen Porter governors for sale on places like ebay too.

crueby:

--- Quote from: cnr6400 on August 31, 2026, 06:20:09 pm --- :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: A great start Chris.
But if you see the shop elves making a bunch of croquet mallets and wood balls it may be wise to lock the hoop up somewhere!  :Lol:

--- End quote ---
The hoop is big enough they can just drive their truck through it, with the croquet balls in the back of the truck!   :Jester:

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