I needed a throttle for my turbo intake system. The pipe from
the turbo to the intercooler would be the place to put a throttle.
The stock Mazda turbo setup uses a 1-3/4 inch tube for this purpose.
1-3/4 inch is a bit on the small side for a butterfly throttle
as it obstructs any pipe it is installed in when wide open.

Ever since I got interested in furrin cars around the age of
19 I have been fascinated with slide throttles used on some 
exotic furrin race cars. The advantage of a slide throttle 
is you get a nice smooth tube when the throttle is completely
open. The downside is there is a huge pressure load on the throttle
plate that causes them to stick. The historical fix for this has 
been some sort of very expensive linear motion ball bearings. 

I was looking through the McMaster Carr catalog this morning
for linear ball bearings and I came across low cost cam follower
bearings. I then had the bright idea of using four of those
and making the throttle plate into a sort of miniature four wheel
car that runs in tracks. Been racking my brain off and on for
forty years on how to solve this problem at low cost. I think I
have hit upon a solution.

Here it is. It is half in the cockpit and half in the engine 
compartment for the world's most simple and direct throttle linkage. 
A very simple push pull rod with a knob on the end of it.

Paul Lamar
 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.              Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site.
http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            http://www.linux.org