WHY NOT?

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2801, 16 November 1931, Page 6

WHY NOT?

TWO-SPEED STEERING GEARS. Referring to the difference in steering a large limousine and a small sports car, an English driver writes: "Light low-geared steering is certainly attractive on a big car when it is necessary to park the vehicle in a confined space with a minimum of fatigue. At high speeds on the road, however, the same steering compares very unfavourably with the much more direct mechanism of the sports car. Owing to the low gearing, the steering is so slow as to make it practically impossible to execute a sudden swerve or to pull the vehicle out of a skid. In high-pow-ered cars built for speed the designers naturally realise this difficulty and arrange the steering accordingly, but although this gives the correct quick control so essential to safety, it makes the vehicle very tiring to diive in heavy traffic, or on a winding read. "These being the facts of the case, it would seem that there is much to he said for providing a two-speed steering gear on large cars. It is possible to imagine a simple epicyclic mechanism controlled by a lever which in one position would give the low gearing and light control required for town work, and in the other position would give the quick action needed for fast driving in the country.”