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).
Patent specification detailing improvements in and relating to change-speed gear control.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 136\4\ scan0155 | |
| Date | 7th July 1934 | |
| 2 438,068 3 out having to use the selector control lever although the latter is moving in step with the different changes indicating the gear in use and being always in a position to 5 be restored to its normal use simply by pushing the hinged part of the lever back on the notched quadrant. When top direct drive is reached the lever can be restored to its normal position and is then 10 used in the usual manner. As above described my invention is employed to enable a driver of a motor vehicle to start away from rest and get into top gear in a quick and easy manner 15 for the " up " gear changes only. In an alternative construction of my invention I provide means for enabling " down " gear changes to be made such means comprising the use of an additional pawl also 20 pivoted on the self-change or equivalent shaft and adapted to turn the selector shaft through ratchet teeth or pins arranged to suit the reverse movement of the selector shaft as required for the 25 " down " gear changes. The crank or cam is modified to permit either pawl to be made operative or to keep both pawls inoperative and the hinged portion of the selector control lever is given a 30 larger movement to provide a third position corresponding to the " down " changes. When more desirable the lengthwise movable rod may be arranged outside the hollow rod or tube. 35 In an alternative construction the pawl or pawls are adapted to act on ratchet teeth or the like provided on the toothed member that may be employed to turn a small pinion secured to or integral with 40 the selector shaft as a means of giving the necessary rotation to the latter. In a further construction the pawl or pawls, or their equivalent, may be acted from any member or part that is con- 45 nected or coupled to the self-change shaft or the pedal or lever that controls the movement of the self-change shaft the selector shaft being turned by the pawl or pawls substantially as hereinbefore 50 described. Various alternative arrangements of the means employed to transmit the movement of the self-change shaft to the selector shaft are possible, such as mount- 55 ing the pawl or pawls on a plate or plates pivoted on the selector shaft the plate or plates being actuated by links cams or geared sectors or like means on the self-change shaft or by mounting the pawl or 60 pawls on a plate attached to a movable link or crank provided on a fixed part such as the gearbox casing or by combinations of such link pawl cam or gear actions, but the essential feature of my 65 invention is to provide an automatic turning of the selector shaft by the self-change shaft or equivalent for " up " gear changes only or for both " up " and " down " gear changes. 70 Dated the 7th day of July, 1934. A.{Mr Adams} ALLTREE. by an arrangement and construction that pre-selects and engages a gear in the one control operation the movement of the actuating member in one direction turning the pre-selector member to a position 5 that selects the next gear in the sequence and the return movement of the actuating member in its other direction engages the gear selected in the first part of the control movement; that is to say if control is 10 by means of a pedal, depressing the pedal selects the gear and allowing the pedal to return engages the gear so selected. In one construction of my invention I provide a plurality of ratchet teeth upon 15 a pre-selector member with means to engage the ratchet teeth and so turn the pre-selector member but in an alternative construction of my invention I provide ratchet teeth on a toothed member that is 20 employed to turn a toothed pinion secured to or formed on the pre-selector member, the latter turning with the pinion, and in each construction I provide further means for making the 25 ratchet turning means operative or inoperative at the will of the driver. In this specification and drawings my invention is described and shown as applied to or combined with a change- 30 speed gear control for constant mesh and sliding gears, such as is described in patent specification No. 402,924, but my invention can be equally well adapted to operate the pre-selector members used 35 with gears of the epicyclic type. In the drawings herewith Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate one form of change speed gear with which my invention may be employed, Figures 4 to 10 show an application of my invention to a pre-selector 40 member Figure 11 being a modified form of construction, Figures 12 13 and 13a show my invention applied to the toothed quadrant or equivalent normally employed 45 to turn the pre-selector member and Figures 14 to 19 illustrate forms of lever control as employed in my invention. Figures 1 2 and 3 illustrate the earlier invention, No. 402,924, the pre-selector 50 self-change being applied to two speeds, such as the third and fourth speed. In a four-speed gearbox the pair of gears 9 and 10 representing fourth speed is obtained when the sliding dog 6 55 engages pinion 9 and the pair of gears 11 and 12 represents third speed which is obtained by engaging dog 6 with gear wheel 11, the gears 10 and 12 being on layshaft 13. The dog 6 is coupled by 60 means of a shift fork 5, on a fixed bar 5a, to a pivoted gear shift lever 4 the end 4c of which engages the shift fork. The lever 4 has two wings or arms 4a and 4b and a downward pull on one arm 65 will swing the lever in one direction and a downward pull on the other arm will swing it in the reverse direction each swing moving members 5 and 6 for a gear change or gear engagement. The pre- 70 selector self-change means comprise a neutralising and self-change shaft 1 a selector shaft 2 and two spring-loaded link-bars 7 and 8 which are pivoted on the shaft 1 and adapted to engage the arms 75 4a 4b of lever 4. When the self-change shaft 1 is given a partial clockwise turn a cam slot 1c formed in the shaft coacts with a peg 4d on lever 4 to put the latter in its neutral position and this also puts 80 the gear then in use into its neutral position. Slots 2a and 2b are provided in shaft 2 and so formed and spaced that by turning the shaft either slot can be moved into a 85 position that permits its corresponding link-bar to engage with its arm of the gear shift lever when the link-bars are moved upwards by means of the shaft 1 the inoperative link-bar being prevented by the 90 selector shaft from similar engagement. The object of the present invention is to provide means for turning the selector shaft 2 from the actuating shaft 1 when the latter is operated for a gear change to 95 automatically select the next gear and according to one arrangement of my invention I effect this, as shown in Figures 4 and 7, by pivoting a pawl carrier 20 on shaft 2 and coupling this pawl carrier by 100 means of a link 21 to a pin 1a on shaft 1, the arrangement being such that when the actuating shaft 1 is given a partial turn the pawl carrier and its pawl 20a move correspondingly so that the pawl by 105 engaging with one of a plurality of ratchet teeth 2d on shaft 2 turns the latter to an extent equal to its pre-selection of the next gear in the sequence. Referring to Figures 1 2 and 3, and assuming third 110 speed to be engaged and fourth speed desired, if shaft 1 is turned to the required extent by its control pedal lever or the like in addition to functioning as already described to put the gear in neutral this 115 movement of the shaft also turns the selector shaft 2 into a position that permits link 8 to engage arm 4b and so couple it to the shaft 1, fourth speed then being engaged by allowing shaft 1 to 120 return to its first position. In the case of a change-speed gear having three or more forward speeds, and assuming the gear to be in neutral, each speed can in turn be selected and engaged in this manner 125 without the need for using the pre-selector lever. As it is desirable to make the pawl 20a inoperative before the shaft 2 can be turned in its reverse direction, as is neces- 130 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Improvements in and relating to Change-Speed Gear Control I, ARTHUR ALLTREE, Rydal Dene, Pilling Lane, Pressall, near Fleetwood, in the County of Lancaster, British subject, do hereby declare the nature of this 75 invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:— My invention relates to improvements in 80 change-speed gear control mechanism of the type in which a gear can be pre-selected in advance of the actual gear change, my invention relating in particular to the transmission systems of motor 85 vehicles. In such mechanism pre-selection is obtained by means of a pre-selector shaft formed with slots or cams that permit any desired link or its equivalent to link or couple a gear engaging member, 90 such as a brake member in the case of epicyclic gears or a gear shift lever in the case of constant mesh or sliding gears, to a self-change or equivalent member that actuates the brake member or gear shift 95 for the gear change. The object of the present invention is to provide means by which the self-change or equivalent member can itself actuate the pre-selector member so that gear 100 changes can be made without the need for using the normal pre-selector control lever. In former methods of obtaining gear selection ratchet teeth on a pre-selector shaft have been engaged by a pawl 105 in such manner that when making a gear change the pre-selector shaft is turned by the actuating member to a position that pre-selects the next gear in sequence higher than the gear then being engaged 110 the partial turn of the pre-selector shaft being effected during the last part of the movement made by the actuating member. The present invention is characterised | ||