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).
Description of the self-selection gear mechanism for easier and safer acceleration during a getaway.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 136\4\ scan0189 | |
Date | 1st October 1937 guessed | |
-3- Self-selection of the Gears during a Getaway. By means of a small addition to the mechanism a driver can accelerate through the gears simply by depressing and releasing the pedal to engage successive gears, keeping both hands on the wheel and giving all his attention to the road and traffic at a time when a little extra caution is often needed. This Self-selection is obtained by mounting a light pawl on the Self-change Shaft and adapting the pawl to engage ratchet teeth on the toothed sector used in the normal control to turn the Selector Shaft. This light pawl only functions during a getaway and is made operative by a slight tilt of the preselector lever on the Steering column. The arrangement is such that on a getaway each gear - from neutral to top - is in turn self-selected when the clutch pedal is pushed right down and the gear so selected is engaged when the pedal comes up. The preselector lever keeps in step and is always indicating the gear in use, an arrangement that avoids confusion when normal control is again resumed. An easier quicker and safer getaway - a useful feature in these days of many stops. | ||