Governor

(güv'ürn-or.) [Fr. gouverneur.] (Pol.) One who is invested with executive authority over a state, colony, or city; as, the governor of New York.-(Mach.) In steam-engines, a contrivance for the regulation of their action, ordinarily consisting of 2 heavy balls, fixed respectively on the lower extremities of2 rods, having at their upper ends hinges of some form that connect them with a vertical spindle, which is made to revolve by the main power of the machinery to be regulated; as in water-wheels, for instance. When the machinery is set in motion to the proper degree of velocity, the rods and balls are carried round by the spindle at a regulated distance from it; but when the velocity becomes too great, the balls and rods are thrown out by centrifugal force; and this toa greater or le extent diminishes the supply of steam to the steam -cylinder by means of the throttle valve, or of water to the Fig. 360.- SAFETY GOVERNOR. water-wheel by lower-Invented by A. P. Brown (New York). ing the sluice-gate, until the correct rate of speed is arrived at. If the motion becomes tooslow,the balls descend below the proper position,which opens the throttle-valve of the steam-engine, or increases the supply of water to the water-wheel. Governor's Island, in New York harbor, has upon it the strong defences called Castle Williams and Fort Columbus. [s. 417]