The Merrill Wheel-Balancing System was the world's first electronic dynamic
wheel-balancing system. It was invented in 1945 by Marcellus Merrill at the Merrill Engineering Laboratories, 2390 South Tejon Street,
Englewood, Colorado, and is now recorded on the
list of IEEE Milestones
The following timeline tables list the discoveries and inventions in the history of electrical and electronic engineering.
History of discoveries timeline
History of associated inventions timeline
List of IEEE Milestones
The following l ...
in
electronic engineering
Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current ...
[{{cite web , url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Merrill_Wheel-Balancing_System,_1945 , title=Milestones:Merrill Wheel-Balancing System, 1945 , author= , date= , work=IEEE Global History Network , publisher=IEEE , accessdate=3 August 2011] and as an
American Society of Mechanical Engineers landmark.
Before Merrill's invention, all wheel-balancing for automobiles, trucks, etc., required removal of the wheel from the vehicle. Most required some form of static balancing without wheel rotation, which was slow and error-prone.
Merrill's invention balanced wheels while still mounted to the vehicle, by spinning them at high speed and electronically analyzing the vibrations to trigger a
stroboscope
A stroboscope, also known as a strobe, is an instrument used to make a cyclically moving object appear to be slow-moving, or stationary. It consists of either a rotating disk with slots or holes or a lamp such as a flashtube which produces br ...
. Technicians could then determine where balancing weights should be added.
References
ASME Landmarks
Automotive technologies