NEW ERA OF TRACTION

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3146, 4 December 1923, Page 7

NEW ERA OF TRACTION

OSCILLATING FLY-WHEEL. CLAIMS OF INVENTOR-. GEAR CHANGING BANISHED. Motor-cars with only one engine control—the accelerator —which will move with the silence of a serpent are in prospect, for the immediate future, says a London paper. They have been made possible by a wonderful transmission system, invented by Mr George Constantincsco, whose brain evolved, the device by which a machine-gun could be fired through the whirring blades of an aeroplane propeller. All the troubles of gear changing will, it is claimed, be banished in the new cars. The clutch will join the chain-drive in the land of “once upon a time.” A motor-car driven by Mr Constantinesco’s system will climb any hill without losing much of its level road, speed. In fact the climbing power of a car is said to be only limited by an incline it cannot stand on without falling backwards. Mr Constantineseo declares that liis invention, which ho calls the “converter,” is equally applicable to railway locomotives, aeroplanes, or tanks. Two railway engines have already been fitted with the invention. The whole system is based on an oscillating fly-wheel, as opposed to the revolving fly-wheel now used, and the oscillation stores up “torque” —that, is, energy —in tremendous volume. Motor Driving Simplified. The device was tested with a little 10 horse-power motor of pre-war date. The car carried a load of 10 men and also towed a four-ton lorry up a hill, ami accelerated on the gradient,. Sixinch wood blocks were placed in front of the back wheels of the car and the engine started. The car climbed over the obstacles without, a jar or hesitation. • “It was a curious experience driving the car for the -first time in London traffic,” said Mr Constantineseo. “I felt lost, without, the gear lever and the clutch, pedal of the ordinary car. But one soon gets used to the new car. “To stop one just takes the foot, oil the accelerator pedal and applies the brake, and the car becomes stationary, with the engine turning over slowly. Depress the accelerator gently and the car moves off again with a flowing easy movement. All one has to do in driving is to operate the accelerator and brake, and steer. Less Petrol and Greater Speed. “Bv the use of my transmission system, half the engine size required for a motor-ear with the normal system of clutch and gears is used. A one-litre engine will do the work of a, two-litre engine (roughly L"i horse-power), and so on. - “There will be great economies of petrol and an increase in speed for proportionate work. There will be much less wear and tear, for the engine is always turning at the correct, revolutions for its load and gradient. “In the application of the system to railway traction, the power for the locomotives is provided by internal combustion engines of the type used in our Army tanks. These locomotives will give the rapid acceleration, speed, and advantages of electric loconiotives without, of course, the high capital cost of electrifying the railway. We hope to exhibit the locomotives at the British Empire .Exhibition at Wembley next year.”