CVP Transmission

You have to love it when someone comes up with technology that is simpler than that that it replaces. It's what defines good engineering, IMO. I couldn't make too much out from the article and schematic but it definitely has few moving parts. Especially when compared to a conventional transmission. I also think the scalability part is interesting. This thing can be used on everything from bicycles to semis.

I'm old. Supercharged Packards had a ball bearing set up to speed up the turbine.

In 1956, McCulloch set up a special automotive division, Paxton Superchargers (his middle name), to handle the supercharger division. The same year the company changed the name of the ball drive supercharger to the VS-57 and developed a new variable rate supercharger called the VR-57. The new supercharger incorporated a variable rate internal planetary drive ratio that could alter the step up ratio from 3.5:1 to 5.5:1. The variable rate was achieved by a spring pack that would change the distance between the ball races based on RPM. The supercharger experienced a one-year victory in NASCAR causing officials to ban superchargers in the sport. The supercharger was most notably used as the F-option on the 1957 Ford Thunderbird (211 produced).

In 57 Ford built some Paxton supercharged 312's. 312 HP. They were faster than the hot 283's.

Old, and full of worthless information, Al

Michael Johnson wrote in news:7oudnb44aJJC1zDbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

This thing is nothing short of brilliant. If it all pans out, the CVT will be obsolete overnight.

Check out the demo video:

"Big Al" wrote in news:46ad8110$0$500$ snipped-for-privacy@news.qwest.net:

What's old is new.

Another interesting point is that this thing can be used in virtually any application where gear reduction is needed, as it scales extremely well.