The Nautical Encyclopedia

Patterson’s Illustrated Nautical Encyclopedia — Howard Patterson, 1891

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Home ⚓ Letter G ⚓ Governor

Governor

Engineering

Mechanism for controlling automatically the speed of an engine.

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2026 Editor's Note: The governor — the spinning-ball speed regulator — became control theory's founding device; Maxwell's 1868 paper 'On Governors' helped birth the science behind every thermostat and autopilot. See centrifugal governor. (Ed: BR 2026-06-07)

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The Nautical Encyclopedia (1891) is in the public domain; this digital edition © 2026 PhotoOpAI.