AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH LIBRARY OF THE HCFI Major support by the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation Winter 2015 “The Information Place” Volume 17 #4 THE EVOLUTION OF THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION and near flawless metallurgy. It wasn’t until ten years later in Boston, Massachusetts when the first improvements on the Panhard design were implemented. The Sturtevant brothers equipped their auto- mobile with a two-forward-speed gearbox with two automatic friction clutches. The stress of changing gear ratios and the lack of technological advances in metallurgy left their offering prone to failures, and the car was never put into production to the masses. It did, however, plant the idea collectively into the minds currently working on auto- mobile manufacturing at the time that with perfection of the flawed areas, these obsta- cles could be overcome. With this in mind, it became clear that the limitations of two forward speed gear ratios must give way to a transmission that would allow varying be- tween maximum to deliver the most availa- ble acceleration, to the minimum so that the engine would not overload under normal driving conditions. This would inevitably be known as the infinitely variable gear trans- mission. Early versions of these included friction -disc drives, which were used successfully A Panhard-Levassor 1890-1895 on many early automobiles, but were There have been many obstacles to ly manual gearboxes were like everything plagued with the trouble of flat spots on the overcome with engineering since the advent else on those vehicles: primitive. It was to wheel, causing the ride to be very bumpy for of the automobile, but none of them sur- this end that the search for “The Grail” be- the driver. This was often caused by the passed the need - or more accurately the gan. First introduced by French automaker driver holding the friction members engaged desire – to find a way to either minimize the Panhard-Levassor in 1894, the automatic upon stalling. The other problems occurred tedious and cumbersome shifting mecha- gearbox would go on to be redesigned and as engines became more and more powerful, nisms or abolish them outright. The auto- evolve into today’s modern monsters with leading to what we now know as ‘slip,’ or matic transmission allows the vehicle to computer-perfected mathematical soundness Continue on page 2 change gear ratios from a gearbox without the driver needing to use a shift lever or a Now you can visit us on Facebook! Don’t forget to clutch. The early automobilist wanted the give us a “like” and add us to your favorites list! ability to concentrate on the steering, throt- tle, and braking controls exclusively, en- https://www.facebook.com/AutomotiveResearchLibraryHCFI/ hancing the driving experience and making it more enjoyable and less labor- intensive. Up Coming Events The argument could still be posed to this day that the modern manual transmission Dec 31-Jan 3, San Diego International Auto Show, San Diego, CA remains the epitome of the driver-to-car February 26-28, 2016 Big3 Swap Meet, San Diego, CA interface; allowing the driver to become part February 28, 2016, Annual Foundation member meeting. See page 6 of the machine. However, the simplicity of March 17-18, 2016, Chickasha Pre-War Swap Meet, Chickasha, OK the automatic transmission was the Holy Grail of engineers – mostly because the ear- April 17-19, 2016 HCCA National Bakersfield Swap Meet, Bakersfield, CA President’s Corner... As 2015 comes to a close, I hope everyone has had a good and productive year; I’m hoping that all the tours you attended went well. Here at the Automotive Research Library of the HCFI, we have continued to pro- cess donations of books, literature, and automotive memorabilia. This seems like a never ending task; just when you seem to have a handle on everything, we get another donation to inventory and process. We are not complaining, however. We love the donations. We also added more shelving made possible with a gen- erous donation by Nick Fintzelberg. The shelving is used to store the Library core collection, technical books, shop manuals and duplicated books that are for sale. Speaking of donations (along with the book, literature and automotive memo- rabilia), we appreciate your cash donations; because the Library continues to have operating expenses, and we need them to keep the doors open. Since the Library is a charitable non-profit, a 501(c)3 organization, your donations are tax-deductible (similar to donating to the Red Cross or the American Cancer Society) - so please remember us when you are considering any donations. This year the Library attended many automotive events, including San Diego’s Big 3 Swap Meet, Santa Fe Concorso, in New Mexico and Hershey. There are many more we would like to attend, but the logistics, time and expense does limit the events we are able to attend. If you do see us at an event, please stop in our booth and say hello. However, if know of an event you think the Library should attend, please let Mac MacPherson know and we will try to add it to our calendar. Finally, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Have a good winter planning for the summer tours. THE EVOLUTION OF THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION Continued from page 1 and high. REO tried to overcome this in 1934 by basically having two transmissions aboard – one used at ordinary speeds and the second when a low gear was required to slow the car. This was not cost-effective and further research could not be continued, as the company was about to go under and had no monetary resources to do so. Enter Swedish engineer Alf Lysholm, who produced the first of these for British buses under the banner of the Leyland Mo- tor Corporation. By combining his discov- eries and their own research, the engineers working for Cadillac came up with the de- sign for its Hydra-Matic transmission, hav- ing scrapped earlier ‘synchromesh’ manual steel-on-steel friction drive because of its 1907 Sturtevant — Automatic Auto Transmission (HCFI Archive) costly nature. Ironically, Cadillac would not be the first to sport the Hydra-Matic trans- the inability transmit the proper power torque to input torque as the driven member mission. In 1938 Buick and Oldsmobile without overwhelming the gears. A gentle- was brought up to speed or slowed down. were the first to have it as options, but these man in Hamburg, Germany had already This allowed for smooth and silent models both had clutch pedals. These were been working on this problem in the form operation with little wear on moving parts. known as ‘auto safety transmissions.’ It of a speed reducing mechanism for steam The problem with this when applied to the wasn’t until 1940 that the clutch-less Hydro turbines. Herrmann Foettinger had begun automobile application however, became -Matic transmission was introduced on the experimenting with hydro-kinetic torque that the efficiency was entirely too low to Oldsmobile as an option for $57. In 1941, conversion, and the idea was successful for be tolerable in continuous operation. In Cadillac was introduced with them. many years in the field of steam turbines. other words, these torque converters would While the ‘auto safety transmissions’ The automotive industry took note of his only transmit power in one direction, which ‘torque converter,’ and developed the high- were being beta-tested, Chrysler was com- made it obvious that it needed a reverse ing up with an innovation that made the speed reduction gear with double helical gear to operate properly at all speeds – low teeth, which automatically changed output Continued on page 3 transmission without any planetary gear sets. Packard’s offering of the Ultramatic came in use in 1949. American Motors and Studebaker soon followed with their own versions: the Chrysler ‘Powerflite’ and ‘Torqueflite’ transmissions in 1953 & 1956 respectively. In 1960, whale oil was re- moved from transmission fluids and re- placed with synthetic fluid. Further innova- tions to the automatic transmission would continue, but the most radical innovations would not occur until the early 1980’s, when the advent of lockup torque convert- ers (a mechanical clutch locking the torque converter pump and turbine together to eliminate slip at cruising speeds) and com- puter-controlled fluid solenoid technology was introduced to production vehicles (known now as ECU and TCU technolo- gy). In 2002, working in conjunction with BMW, Fredrichshafen introduced the very first six-speed transmission. It was un- veiled in the BMW E65 7-Series, and was christened the ‘ZF 6HP26.’ The ‘ZF’ de- noted the innovations developed to this technology by those gears for engines in the airship industries of old – most notably airship innovator Fredrich Von Zeppelin. One year later, Mercedes-Benz intro- Ford model T Transmission, 1908—1927 “Repairing and Restoring the Model T Ford: duced the ‘7G-tronic,’ the first seven-speed The Model T Transmission,” Model T ford Club 1990 in HCFI Archives transmission. Toyota took it one step fur- ther in 2007 with the first eight-speed – following Hydra-Matic transmissions pos- Lepelletier, or Simpson planetary gear sets. introduced in the Lexus LS 460. The cur- sible – the fluid coupling. By combining Each one of these uses some arrangement rent crown belongs to the 2014 Jeep Cher- the fluid coupling with three planetary of one or two central sun gears, and a ring okee, which touts the first nine-speed gears that were hydraulically controlled, gear, with differing arrangements of planet transmission in history. However, the latest the bugs had been almost entirely ironed gears that surround the sun and mesh with technological innovations came when Mer- out, and the industry standard had been the ring.