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The device in the picture is a centrifugal governor, and has been used as a mechanical speed regulator in countless mechanisms over the years, including automatic transmissions and constant speed propellers. It is easy to adjust the regulator by simply altering the spring pressure. (You can see the pair of nuts on the top of the spring, which are used to adjust spring pressure, with the top nut acting as a locknut for the lower one.)
The steam era railroad term for a centrifugal governor operating at high speed is "Running ***** out", where as the term "***** to the wall" has to do with pushing throttles close to the firewall, usually in a plane or sometimes a boat.
There is also an old railroad term "To highball it" or "Highball it out of here" which is related to old mechanical signals, where a high ball meant all clear, and the engineer was allowed to proceed at full speed.
Obviously, any term with the word ball in it can take on a sexual innuendo, however none of these terms are sexual in origin, or should be considered impolite when used as generally intended. However, in today's ultra PC, hyper harassment world, if you said you were running ***** out to finish a project at work, you would probably be fired anyway, or at least get heavy duty sensitivity training.
Edit: not that i'm being critical of the first description by fs re "ballls to the walls" but I really didn't see the walls near that steam engine picture. this explanation above explains it to me. thanks.
