AUXILIARY TRANSMISSION FOR THE FORD.
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A Supplementary Gearbox which Gives the Ford Van or Truck Six Speeds.
THE' FORD on dontruck is a, very useful and handy outfit for running transport in city work, but when it,
.gets beyond the city confines and needs to encounter either severe hilts, or long stretches of level country, its shortcomings make themselves apparent by reason of its two very low gears.
The engine has ample power to drive the car on the level at much higher speeds than its low top gear ratio "Will permit, this results in_ much Thverspeeding of the engine, which is not good for it, in order to get over a fair amount of ground; whilst, when the vehicle gets Cal gra,dient which is just too much for it on the high gear, and the driver has to change dawn, the low speed is so low that, again, much engine racing takes place, with the object of attaining a reasonable rate of.' travel.
This drawback to this very useful vehicle has, of late, been receiving the -attention of the inventors, with a view to its elimination, and for some time now in America two ways of dealing with the difficulty have been adopted. In one of them, an interniediate gearing is introduced which gives a reduction on both the Ford gears, thus providing four speeds, all reductions, which virtually provide the vehicle with an intermediate speed between the present high andlow, so that when.the driver has to change down he has not to drop so low, whilst the new first speed forms ri.n emergency gear which will pull:him out of any hole the machine. may,get into. in the other deirice, much the same system is employed, but a multiplyinglinstead of a seducing gear is need; so that, whilst, for easy work, the Ford high gear is raised without increasing engine speed (thus avoiding engine racing on the level), the multiplication applied.to.the Ford first *peed provides an intermediate gear between the Fordlow and high for hills. In., a recent:issue of The Commercial Motor, a new Bag, fish introduction was described, which provider, two " over-drive "ratios on very similar lines to the last mentioned, and, like the others, also combined with a new transmission shaft and coupled up withthe differential.
• This will show the amount of attention which is being given to the subject on both sides of the Atlantic, and now we learn of another American introduction —which-Messrs. Brame° (1920), Ltd., of Coventry, are handling in this country. this, known as the Concord auxiliary transmission, combines the two systems, and does it by interposing a gearbox, not at the differential end of the transmission, where it becomes additional unsprung weight, but at the forward end of the shaft, where it is bolted up to the Ford transmission case .and. is wholly spring supported.
The construction and appearance of the Concoret.tra,m-nission are well shown in the annexed illustration, from which it will he seen that, it consists of a simple sliding gear transmission, giving one reduction and one multiplication, so that, in the one outfit, both types of transmission are combined, with the result that, whilst the regular Ford gears are employed, the auxiliary gear combined with them gives four other gear -ratios, two "down" and two "up." A car so provided has not two: gears only.,
but six, the respective gears being as follow :— First, speed, or "emergency lower," is the Ford low gear, reduced, and will be found useful for real emergencies, for starting under load on hills and for pulling out of holes and difficult places where even the Ford low gear is not powerful enough. Second:: speed.—This is the regular Ford low.
Third speed, or " higher low," is the
Ford low speed geared up about 20 per cent. This comes about a third of the way between the Ford low and high gears, and is useful for quicker starting under, favourable condition* and for help on really bad hills.
Fourth speed, or "lower high," is the Ford high gear reduced, and comes about midway between the two regular Ford gears, and enables the vehicle to climb hills at a decent speed -when the Ford high cannot he used, and is also useful in heavy traffic.
Fifth . speed is the regular Ford high,
and the • Sixth speed, or "extra high," is the Ford 'high gear geared up, so that, on good roads, a reasonable road speed can be obtained without increasing engine speed and overheating the engine. There is also a positive. neutral point for the control lever—which is central—which cuts out the Ford clutch and assists engine starting in cold weather when the clutch bands drag. This arrangement. of course, also provides three reverse gear ratios, being the Ford regular reverse, with a gearing up and a gearing rilewn horn that.
To fit it, the driving connections have to be shortened with replacement parts, which are supplied with the gear, and in operation the Ford is ,stopped, started and driven in the usual manner, and the auxiliary gears are shifted _by the hand lever, just like any other gear, whilst, the car is in motion.
It is Claimed that the use of this device makes the Ford driving hands last longer, prevents chattering in the low ,reverse, and stopping of the motor when reversing; that it is not necessary to race the engine to start heavy loads; that the engine is kept cooler and freer from carbon deposit; that wear on cylinders, pistons and bearings is re duced, and that more vehicle speed is Obtained, as well as tremendous ' power available for pulling out of holes and difficult roads.
Four models are made; with different gear ratios, two for the 'Ford van and two for the Ford worm-drive truck, the respective ratios being :—
The, gear control is so arranged that wlien the lever is in the centre the car is running on the regular Ford speeds ; when the lever is moved into forward position the two over-drive ratios are available, and when it is moved into the rear position the two under-drives are in use, and no matter in what position the gear leer may be the car is driven and controlled by the Ford foot control in the usual way. The price of this set is £45,