WITHOUT GEARS OR CLUTCH.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 January 1927, Page 15

WITHOUT GEARS OR CLUTCH.

CONSTANTINE SCO’S CAR MARVEL PRINCIPLE OUTLINED. Motorists will bo glad to know that the near future holds in store for them as a practical and commercial production, a gearless and clutch less car (writes Fred. Berry in the Sydney Daily Guardian). This will mean that the happy driver will be able to leave his garage and go for a trip of ten, one hundred, or one thousand miles, over any (type of country, without ever having need to change gear or operate the clutch, progress being regulated entirely by the throttle. , This remarkable achievement is made possible by the invention of one Constantine sco in the form of a torque converter, being, in effect, an automatic infinitely variable gear. There is something very weird in the functioning of this unit, as when placed in the car it moves the vehicle more in the nature of a liner leaving a wharf —irresistible and fluid at the one time in its action—snatch or fierceness not being present as is usual with the conventional type of transmission in the hands of a careless driver. Equipped in this manner, the car will climb the steepest grade, provided the wheels can obtain a purchase, and were a huge log, of, say, a foot in diameter placed in front of the rear wheels when the car was stationary, immediately • the motor was speeded up the outfit would slowly and surely, but without fuss, surmount the obstacle.

The usefulness of this to the motorist is obvious, for the fact cannot be disguised that the bigger percentage of present-day motorists do not relish changing gear. Progress is regulated entirely by the throttle opening, which ' is governed automatically bv speed, load, and grade. A furtlier and very important aspect from an economic point of view is that under these conditions the novice will lie able to obtain extraordinary mileages in petrol consumption, and equally as good results as the more skilled driver. To explain the operation of tho torque converter we must use the analogy of a pendulum, for its basicprinciples are based upon the inertia of the pendulum. Let. us imagine before us a long pendulum, free to swing and weighted at the extremity with a heavy ball. Give it a push, and soon it will take up a regular “beat,” which can be sustained with little effort. This may he likened to the neutral position of the Constantinesco gear. Go now a step further, and grasping the pendulum about one-third way down from the swinging point, try to move it back and forth faster. Notice how it resists you, and appears to throw the weight back on you. If yon can imagine the original top, swinging point, being positioned in a slot and free to move laterally, you would then find that the resistance noticed beiore would oe lessened, and that both the top and bottom of the pendulum would swing. This can be compared to power being delivered to the road wheels through the torque coverter, and the car moving at medium speed. A step further would he to apply allthe power at your disposal to push the ? pendulum back and forth as fast as possible. You would then find that the weighted ball at the end of the pendulum would remain at rest, while the top would move hack and forth the full distance. This can be compared to full power being applied to the road %vheeis through the gear under discussion. While there is no actual pendulum in Constantinesco’s gear, the same result is achieved by the use of the oscillating wheel which has its own natural period, and acts ir. exactly the same manner. It is pleasing to note that cars equipped with this gear have been tested most thoroughly with very great success, and that they are now being manufactured and sold to the public abroad.