Innerplanetary Travelbetter Driving Through Cheap, Simple Ingenuity

摘要

Henry ford was a devotee of elegant, simple solutions, and his magnum opus-the Model T-was full of them. He favored constant-mesh planetary gears over the kind that have to slide in and out of contact with each other, which led to the T's unique three-pedals-and-a-lever transmission. The T's steering used another planetary gearset to reduce effort. But, in 1927, son Edsel talked him into more conventional gearing for the Model A, and the planetary concept fell by the wayside for a decade until automatic transmissions brought them back into vogue. These days sliding-gear trannies with twin clutches are hogging the headlines, but British engineering firm Antonov Ltd. is breathing new life into elegant planetary gearing.