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Overspeed Trip

A Clutch with spinning weights inside that throws itself open if its shaft turns too fast. It's a safety cutoff for gear trains that might run away.

Crafting

Two Steel Ingots above a Clutch.

S S
 C

How it works

Place it inline on a shaft exactly like a clutch. The side you place it against is the driving side. Normally it just passes rotation through.

If the driving shaft spins faster than the trip is built for, the weights fly out and it disengages, the same as if you'd right-clicked a clutch. Everything downstream is cut off from the power and coasts down on its own momentum.

It stays open until someone resets it:

  • Right-click it to close it again, or
  • have a Controller flip it with a Switch card.

If the shaft is still spinning too fast when you reset it, it trips again immediately. That's your hint that whatever caused it is still going on.

When it trips

It trips at 48 RPM. A shaft turning at the speed of its own source (a Hand Crank at 32, a Steam Engine at 16, a Water Wheel at up to 16) will never trip it. It only lets go when you've geared up past that with cogs or pulleys. The trip speed is fixed; you can't adjust it.

Notes

  • It doesn't slow anything down or hold a speed. It's all-or-nothing, like a fuse for rotation.
  • Tripping does it no harm at all. It never wears out, however often it fires.