BRITISH PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 111, 13 May 1933, Page 15

BRITISH PROGRESS

CHANGING OF GEAR

THE NEW DEVICES

At long last the bulk of motor-cars on the British market, excluding only ' the cheap models, are being offered with various devices for ensuring a, silent change of gear (says G.B. in the "Manchester Guardian"). •' 'For the lpst •7-twtf or 'three-years ithe-itfavoitrite^de-* .Vice took the form of a constant-mesh third or second Tatio, whilst many American gear boxes incorporated an automatic device for timing the change at the correct moment. But the two British designs which contain the most promise are the Wilson preselector gearbox and the free wheel; the former is entirely a native product, having been developed for servico on tanks in the war, and the latter is simply an application of familiar cycle mechanism, for which. American engineers certainly deserve more credit than our own. Rather to my surprise I find that a good, many intending purchasers of new 1933 cars are too conservative to welcome, such novel methods of gear control. They resemble the veteran bridge-playing colonel who remarks at his club: "I have spent twenty years, learning to play auction decently, and at my time of life I don 't want to learn a new game." A DOUBLE FALLACY. This timidity in respect of new gear controls is based on a double fallacy. In the first place, not three drivers in a hundred havo ever learnt to control the standard gear-change perfectly. The average driver handles his lever with, tolerable skill during a straightaway run over easy, undulating country; but even . after twenty years' ho constantly blunders in heavy traffic or amidst steep hills. Just watch him, as he slides on top up to a city road crossing where the signals are against!him and he expects to stop. Just as ho comes up tho policeman gives him the all-clear, and he is moving too slowly for top. gear; either he opens his throttle and makes his engine pound deplorably, or he somehow effects a very noisy change-down, and departs, all blushing and flustered. Or sit beside him on a tour in the West Country or the Highlands. He is by no means sure of making a quiet change to first or second gear when climbing hills, even if he has plenty of warning that tiie change will be forced on him; and if ho has to make it hur- '. riedly owing to a sudden stiffening of the gradient round a corner the noise may remind * you of a steer bar being pushed against a power saw. Watch him again when he encounters one of .those raro boards "Very Dangerous " 'Hill—Change to Low Gear." He is sliding gently along .on .top when he sights the board,'and it is lpng odds that 'unless ho stops the car dead ho will create a terrific uproar. Ergo, our objector's first premise is absurd; he lias, in fact, never mastered the standard pattern of gear control. His second premise is equally absurd, for the difficulties of mastering the newer patterns are purely imaginary. CERTAINTY AND SILENCE. The ordinary duffer is apt to peer down at his, gear lever when ho is confronted by any awkward change. With Wilson control no change can ever be awkward, and tho least confident . operator need look no farther than'his steering wheel. It enablesan absolute novice to make the necessary changes with certainty and silence. In fact, the system really only permits of one very mild blunder; it is impossible to miss a change or to make a noisy change; but it is .still possible to change to a gear which does not fit the load or engine conditions at the moment. In such cases there may be a jerk, but even these jerks can only be provoked by quite unusual stupidity. Highly as I am bound to praise this new universal component, I am not yet wholly convinced that the free whoel is not technically its superior. Like the Wilson gear, it figures on a great many different makes of cars. It possesses two assets which appeal to some drivers. The first is that it encourages coasting in neutral,'which is an extremely pleasant form of travel when descending long hills. One- pays for the pleasantness, because, after the supremo ■ silence of a long coast, even tho finest engine is apt to seem disgustedly noisy when collarwork is in hand; but tho price is not .too high, Moreover, a

[genuine economy in fuel consumption is achieved by free use of the free wheel. I was demonstrating a free wheel to a friend half an hour ago, and I changed down to first gear on the free, wheel with the car travelling at sixty miles an hour. This change was, of' course, pure ostentation, and could hardly ever serve any useful purpose, except conceivably to cope with a complete brake failure. My point is that the- ■change demanded no skill whatsoever, and was absolutely instantaneous and silont. On the other hand, the usual type of gear-lover is employed, with its temptations to remove the eye from the road. Some critics urge that a free-wheel car needs better brakes than a car with fixed drive; this argument is of very fractional weight. Research proves that serious brake wear only occurs when intense, heat is generated, and when I drive a free-wheel car I notice no additional reliance on my brakes except in gentle slowings in traffic.