Re: [AMC-List] Another Re; E Stick, now Drivers

[adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)]

" From: Mark Price <markprice242@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
" 
" Someone and I can't remember who, was it White?, made a variable transmission back in the 1910's that was a large heavy flywheel mounted to an engine and the way the car was driven was the engine speed was a constant and you moved a lever which moved the drive along the face of the flywheel. Starting close to center for low speed and torque moving out toward the edge as speed increased.
"   I remember reading the artice that stated the things had so much torque you could put a front tire against a tree and the car would climb it vertically!
"   What I can't remember is the specifics of how it was made and worked nor who made the thing! I know I remember it was never mass produced. I assume it was due to a lack of reliabilty. 

-probably- the driven disk slid along a splined shaft which took the
power out.

related schemes have been tried in recent decades; the most
interesting looked a little like a torque converter.  imagine a bagel,
split in half and hollowed out.  now imagine two wheels inside it on a
horizontal shaft crossing the middle, but free to roll independently.
the front half of the bagel turns, the wheels roll, and the back half
of the bagel turns the other way.

now imagine the shaft the wheels are on is two shafts, one for each,
and they are mounted in vertical yokes that can pivot like u-joints.
pivoting the wheels has to be coordinated, but toe them in and they
roll in the inner edge of the front bagel half and the outer edge of
the rear bagel half, producing speed reduction.  toe them out and you
get speed multiplication.

the problem is that you have to make them extremely precisely and from
very hard materials to be efficient [because what you have is very
much like a ball bearing] so that you can run very high contact
pressures because slippage is death.  monsanto even developed a
special lubricant that turns solid under extreme pressure [santotrac
iirc] but apparently the technology wasn't there yet or we'd all be
driving them.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought
_______________________________________________
AMC-List mailing list
AMC-List@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list

or go to http://www.amc-list.com