Freewheel

In mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driven shaft when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft. An overdrive is sometimes mistakenly called a freewheel, but is otherwise unrelated.

The condition of a driven shaft spinning faster than its driveshaft exists in most bicycles when the rider holds his or her feet still, no longer pushing the pedals. In a fixed-gear bicycle, without a freewheel, the rear wheel would drive the pedals around.

An analogous condition exists in an automobile with a manual transmission going down hill or any situation where the driver takes his or her foot off the gas pedal, closing the throttle; the wheels want to drive the engine, possibly at a higher RPM. In a two-stroke engine this can be a catastrophic situation: as many two stroke engines depend on a fuel/oil mixture for lubrication, a shortage of fuel to the engine would result in a shortage of oil in the cylinders, and the pistons would seize after a very short time causing extensive engine damage. Saab used a freewheel system in their two-stroke models for this reason and maintained it in the Saab 96 V4 and early Saab 99 for better fuel efficiency.

The Bill (series 10)

The 10th series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 156 episodes, broadcast between 4 January and 30 December 1994. On 3 October 2012, The Bill Series 10 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 10 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Cast changes

Arrivals

Departures

Episodes

The Bill (series 5)

The fifth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 104 episodes, broadcast between 3 January – 28 December 1989. The series was first released on DVD as part of the Collection 3 and Collection 4 DVD boxsets in Australia, made available on 8 August – 7 November 2007, respectively. The first four episodes of the series were later issued on DVD in the United Kingdom, under the title Volume 4, on 15 March 2010. The next thirteen episodes of series 5 were released on DVD in the UK, under the title Volume 5, on 11 July 2011, the next 48 episodes of Series five was released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 6, on 15 October 2012 and the remaining episodes was released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 7, on 2 September 2013. The series was later re-issued as two half-series boxsets in Australia, released on 7 March 2012. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features images of DC Jim Carver and Sgt. Bob Cryer. The British volume artwork features a collage image featuring a variety of characters from across the season. The original Collection box-sets contained sole images of PC Pete Ramsey and PC June Ackland respectively.

The Bill (series 17)

Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a series of seven special episodes featuring former Detective Sergeant Don Beech, and the newly promoted Detective Inspector Claire Stanton, one of which was filmed in Australia, which concludes the Beech storyline, which began in Series 16. Although the idea of making the series into a serial drama did not fully take effect until April 2002, many of the stories in the latter half of the year were multi-part stories, some containing up to six episodes, such as the "Night Games" saga. The two-part episode "Lifelines" is the last two-parter to feature in the series until the return of episode titles in 2007. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 17 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 17 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Cast Changes

Arrivals