From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Booklet describing the operation and benefits of the 'Spontan' single-pedal automatic gear system.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 41\4\ Scan037 | |
| Date | 21th September 1931 guessed | |
| SPONTAN of the accelerator pedal and engage the clutch gently, at the same time gradually releasing the hand brake. Provided you can keep your head cool and do these operations skillfully enough, the car should move smoothly forwards. How different from driving the Spontan-fitted car with only one thing to do: Just depress that single pedal! Never mind if you do it fast or hesitatingly, or if you do it for the first time in your life, you simply cannot make a mess of it. The Spontan gear will see that you start off safely and smoothly and, incidentally, in the right direction! And more than that. You will find the Spontan gear doing all the gear changing work for you perfectly noiselessly and smoothly, enabling you to accelerate much faster than an ordinary gearbox would do, however cleverly handled. And it does it all automatically. All you have to do is to press down the pedal further when you want to go faster and to release it when you want to go slower. If you release it sufficiently the brakes are automatically applied and the car stops. Incidentally, you are sure of your car not being left with the brakes off. To reverse the car, pull the same pedal slightly upwards from the released position. Depressing the pedal now causes the car to run backwards; to move forward again merely repeat the first reversing movement, i. e.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} pull the pedal slightly upwards as before. A little experience will soon reveal other valuable properties of the Spontan gear, especially useful when driving in crowded traffic. You will find that when the car is standing or moving at low speed the engine is free from the drive and, therefore, can be very rapidly speeded up to give a surprisingly high acceleration. For the same reason the danger of the engine stalling through overloading at low speed is altogether eliminated; you can no longer get that annoying involuntary stopping of your engine just when the policeman on point duty gives the sign to the traffic to move forward. During coasting periods you will find the engine idling, freewheeling taking place automatically. This means a fuel saving not to be despised. Special attention has been paid to the design of the brakes to enable these to meet all demands on braking power under normal running as well as under emergency conditions. In brief, the Spontan system of motor car control combines maximum possibilities of utilizing the engine power, with extreme simplicity in operation, and complete foolproofness. In addition to its use on a number of private cars the Spontan gear has been fitted to a taxicab in Stockholm. It has now met the arduous demands on that class of vehicle for many months with complete satisfaction and is still in service. For the benefit of those desiring more information about the Spontan gear a fuller description follows, dealing at some length with the principle and its practical realisation. | ||