I realise I might be able to find the answer to this in one of the books on Carlos site, but before I send him money I thought Id ask here.

This must be a known problem: I want to take a rotating axle with approximately constant torque/speed (e.g. an electric motor) and use it to drive another axle such that speed and torque are approximately inversely proportional.

In other words, I want to turn an axle quickly when theres little resistance applied to it, but apply a lot of force if necessary at the cost of speed.

This isnt for a crusher, so I dont need an absolutely resilient mechanism. (Although I can see how such a thing would be useful for a crusher. Mind you, if I was doing a crusher, Id start by shoving a linear actuator along a ratchet until it found resistance, which is a far more digital thing than Im looking at.)

I can think (vaguely) of various ways of doing it - something using a device like a governor as a gear (or some other CVT-related technique relying on belt drive), something based on limited slip differentials, or even actually giving the thing a gearbox. None seem very simple, and certainly not very resilient. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I should ask the more mechanically minded types here for the right way to do it.

Any thoughts?

Ta,

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Fluppet