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Transmission Basics: How Automatic Transmissions Work

This document provides a timeline of key innovations in continuously variable transmission (CVT) technology from 1490 to 2004. It describes how da Vinci first sketched a stepless transmission and the first CVT patent was filed in 1886. It then lists important milestones like the first U.S. CVT patent in 1935 and the first U.S.-sold car with a CVT, a Subaru Justy, in 1989. The document contrasts traditional automatic transmissions, which use sets of interlocking gears, with CVTs, which can vary transmission ratios continuously without discrete gears.

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Annamalai Palaniappan
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105 views2 pages

Transmission Basics: How Automatic Transmissions Work

This document provides a timeline of key innovations in continuously variable transmission (CVT) technology from 1490 to 2004. It describes how da Vinci first sketched a stepless transmission and the first CVT patent was filed in 1886. It then lists important milestones like the first U.S. CVT patent in 1935 and the first U.S.-sold car with a CVT, a Subaru Justy, in 1989. The document contrasts traditional automatic transmissions, which use sets of interlocking gears, with CVTs, which can vary transmission ratios continuously without discrete gears.

Uploaded by

Annamalai Palaniappan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Transmission Basics

No More Gears
A Timeline of CVT Innovation

1490 - da Vinci sketches a stepless continuously variable transmission


1886 - first toroidal CVT patent filed
1935 - Adiel Dodge receives U.S. patent for toroidal CVT
1939 - fully automatic transmission based on planetary gear system introduced
1958 - Daf (of The Netherlands) produces a CVT in a car
1989 - Subaru Justy GL is the first U.S.-sold production automobile to offer a CVT
2002 - Saturn Vue with a CVT debuts; first Saturn to offer CVT technology
2004 - Ford begins offering a CVT

If you've read about the structure and function of automatic transmissions in How Automatic
Transmissions Work, then you know that the job of the transmission is to change the speed
ratio between the engine and the wheels of an automobile. In other words, without a
transmission, cars would only have one gear -- the gear that would allow the car to travel at
the desired top speed. Imagine for a moment driving a car that only had first gear or a car that
only had third gear. The former car would accelerate well from a complete stop and would be
able to climb a steep hill, but its top speed would be limited to just a few miles an hour. The
latter car, on the other hand, would fly at 80 mph down the highway, but it would have
almost no acceleration when starting out and wouldn't be able to climb hills.

So the transmission uses a range of gears -- from low to high -- to make more effective use of
the engine's torque as driving conditions change. The gears can be engaged manually or
automatically.

Photo courtesy DaimlerChrysler


Mercedes-Benz CLK automatic transmission.

In a traditional automatic transmission, the gears are literally gears -- interlocking, toothed
wheels that help transmit and modify rotary motion and torque. A combination of planetary
gears creates all of the different gear ratios that the transmission can produce, typically four
forward gears and one reverse gear. When this type of transmission cycles through its gears,
the driver can feel jolts as each gear is engaged.

CVT Basics
Unlike traditional automatic transmissions, continuously variable transmissions don't have a
gearbox with a set number of gears, which means they don't have interlocking toothed
wheels. The most common type of CVT operates on an ingenious pulley system that allows
an infinite variability between highest and lowest gears with no discrete steps or shifts.
Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company
Ford Freestyle Duratec engine with CVT

If you're wondering why the word "gear" still appears in the explanation of a CVT, remember
that, broadly speaking, a gear refers to a ratio of engine shaft speed to driveshaft speed.
Although CVTs change this ratio without using a set of planetary gears, they are still
described as having low and high "gears" for the sake of convention.

Next, we'll look at the different types of CVTs: pulley-based, toroidal and hydrostatic.

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