WITHOUT GEARS OR CLUTCH.

Putaruru Press, Volume V, Issue 175, 10 March 1927, Page 7

WITHOUT GEARS OR CLUTCH.

COrCSTANTINESCO’S CAR MARVEL. Principle Outlined.

Motorists will be glad to know that the near future holds in store for them, as a practical and commercial production, a gearless anc clutchless car (writes Fred. Barry ir the Sydney Daily Guardian). This will mean that the happy driver will be able to leave his garage and gc for a trip of ten, one hundred or one thousand miles, over any type ot country, without ever having need to change gear or operate the clutch, progress being regulated entirely 1 the throttle. This remarkable achievement made possible by the invention of one Constantinesco 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.. natiU'.e__o,f . 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 driverT”" 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 ear was stationary, immediately the motor.was speeded up theoutfit 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 by speed, Ipad and grade. A further and very important aspect from an economic point,of view is that under these conditions . the novice will, be able to obtain extraordinary mileages in petrol, consumption, and equally as good results as the more skilled driver. To, explain the. operation of the torque converter we must use the analogy of a-penfluluip, for its basic principles ajre based upon the inertia of the pendplum. Let us imagine before us a long pendulum, free to swing and weighted at the extremity with a heavy ball. . , Give it a pnsji. and soon it will take up a regular “ beat,” which can be sustained with little effort. This may be likpned to ,the neutral position of the Constantinesco gear. Go now a step further, and grasp-, ing 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 you 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 before would be 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 converter, and the car moving at medium speed. A step further would be to apply all the power at your disposal to push the pendulum back, and forth as fast as possible. You would then find that the weighted hall at the end of the pendulum would remain at rest, while the top would move back and forth the full distance. This can be compared to full power being applied to the road wheels 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 in 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.