GEARBOX HISTORY

It is said according to research that the construction of the first gearbox was by
Leonardo Da Vinci in the year (1500), he did it in a passionate way to publicize a
technological advance for his time. This gearbox was invented to allow speed
change through two pieces joined by a gear, one cylindrical and the other
conical. This system embodied the conception of the gearbox that is known
today.
From there in the year (1889), a very famous man in the automotive industry,
Fred Lanchester began a very interesting research on a topic related to
(epicyclic gears), then after the name of this research he was able to design the
epicyclic gear that involved a great advance compared to the previous one ,
since the engine transmission continued during the speed change since the gear
joined several pinions at the same time. Lanchester concluded that the
transmission of engine torque could continue its movement during the pinion
change since the teeth were distributed over several pinions and not only over
one pair. The result of such an investment was a complete success, since more
than 15 million units were sold with this mechanism.
Later in the year (1925), Henry Ford was the one who adapted the previous
system to his famous Model T, which was a great sales success . It had two
speeds and reverse gear.
Since then in the year (1925), Walter G. Wilson designed an epicyclic gearbox
with a selector lever under the steering wheel and a pedal to change the speed .
He developed a three-speed and reverse gearbox. The problem with this system
is that when the vehicle started moving, a jolt was produced, which caused a lot
of wear on the parts. The solution was to combine the mechanical method of
speed change with the hydraulic method (clutch). This system was perfected,
combining different methods (hydraulic devices and reactors), until reaching the
synchronous gear change that is known today .
Wilson is said to have developed an epicyclic gearbox with a preselector lever,
which was moved manually and varied gears by pressing a pedal. In 1919,
Walter joined the Beardmore company where he was able to develop the entire
compound epicyclic system, which consisted of the use of more than one gear
system and the coupling of several adjacent systems. After this Wilson built a
three speed forward and reverse gearbox. It was in 1928 when Walter showed
the world his work, presenting his preselector mechanism that consisted of a
lever located under the steering wheel or rudder through which the driver could
start the vehicle whenever the famous third pedal was pressed. which was
nothing more than a simple crochet.
Harold Sinclair (1926) began working on this combined system (box and clutch)
to incorporate it into buses, which allowed smoother driving of these vehicles.
In the late 1930s, General Motors designed a quick-shift system and introduced
it to Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Buick automobile models.
In 1940 it installed the first four-speed automatic transmission in its models .
Since then the gearbox has evolved to go from mechanical to automatic . The
technology developed allows for multiple speed changes effortlessly.

The famous gearbox was also adopted by the Armstrong Siddeley model, but
there was a detail: when starting the movement from scratch in the vehicles, the
vehicle jerked and accelerated wear of the belts on the ring gears. There were
solutions, including combining the mechanical method with the hydraulic
method.

Hermann Fottinger , who worked at the Vulcan company, developed in 1905 a

gearbox of hollow rings with a semicircular section, within which the fluid
circulates like a corkscrew, in a spiral movement. However, these hydraulic
clutches were only used at an industrial level, especially in heavy machinery that
was difficult to start.

In 1926, Harold Sinclair began working to attach these gearboxes to buses, with
the intention of making the passengers' journey much more comfortable and
pleasant. The Daimler company, which was dedicated to the construction of
automobiles and buses, became interested in Sinclair's work and began to
combine the knowledge of Walter Wilson with Fottinger's hydraulic device and
this resulted in the creation of the Daimler Double Six vehicle, a car equipped
with a gearbox with preselector and hydraulic clutch to transmit traction. The
company eventually called this device the "Fluid Flywheel."

As time went by, new discoveries were made and the famous reactor was born.
In 1924 , Allan Coates proposed a reactor that functioned as a torque multiplier
or converter device and as a hydraulic coupling. In 1927 Hermann Fottinger
designed a very advanced gearbox that had no competitors and was used in
many of the models of the time. Later, at the end of the 1930s, the giant General
Motors took a step forward by devising a "quick shift" system introduced in the
Oldsmobile model in 1938 and some time later in the Buick and Cadillac models.

In 1940 the first Hydromatic-Automatic gearbox installed on Oldsmobiles arrived.

This box had a hydraulic coupling, without a torque converter and 4 speeds. In
the following years this system continued to be used and its variations were few.
After the Second World War, the demand for more powerful vehicles forced a
change to greater efficiency and less technology.
Nowadays, boxes have evolved considerably, they are no longer just
mechanical and have moved into a world dominated by automotive technology.
Advances in electronics have achieved improvements and now you can count
on sequential automatic transmissions that allow you to easily make multiple
changes without much effort and at high speed. Today, both cars, trucks and
buses enjoy this great tool that makes the driver's life much easier. Definitely,
those who worked on this system improved the life of the vehicles so much and
made driving more enjoyable. The years will continue to pass and advances will
continue thanks to new generations and we will continue to enjoy good driving,
some inclined towards synchronous vehicles and others with a preference
towards automatic vehicles.

THE GEARBOX

The gearbox was initially designed with three-speed shifting mechanisms. Over
the years, four- and five-speed boxes were designed, and in some sports
vehicles up to six speeds.

The gearbox is basically made up of three pinion shafts, although this initial
design, which is currently maintained in some vehicles, has been changed with
another design, especially due to the characteristics of each design made by the
different manufacturers and the way to transmit this force to the driving wheels,
whether front or rear.

The Engine transmits its force to the clutch disc, which sends this force through
a knurled apple to the "drive" shaft of the box. This shaft is meshed with a pinion
that is part of a set of pinions called intermediate shaft or "mass", because there
are several pinions worked in a single set and that rotate, transmitting this
received movement to several pinions simultaneously.

Each pinion of the respective gear receives movement from a pinion on the
intermediate shaft. According to the selection of the required speed, these
sprockets will become solid to the output shaft or spline shaft, whose movement
will be sent to the differential and wheels through the cardan or propeller shaft.

FIVE-SPEED MANUAL GEARBOX

Now that we have known and related the structure of a traditional four-speed
gearbox, let's review the perhaps slightly more complex structure of a five-speed
gearbox.
This box differs from the previous structure basically in that the intermediate
shaft (mass) has an additional pinion, as well as the splined shaft or output
shaft. These two pinions allow you to select a fifth speed, increasing the speed
of the output shaft and therefore the final speed of the vehicle, even rotating the
output shaft at a higher number of engine revolutions (in gear).

Additionally, we can see that the reverse gear sprocket no longer moves to
mesh with the gear change sprocket (idle gear), but that the sprocket for this
gear is also in constant engagement like the rest of the sprockets for the forward
gears.

We can also notice that in this case the reverse gear also has a synchronizer
element.

SINGLE GEAR GEAR

In the modern mechanical gearbox, the pinion that you want to mesh with
another pinion is no longer moved to select a speed or change speed, since all
the pinions of the box, including the reverse gear pinion (in most cases), are
permanently engaged.

This meshing of pinions is called "constant drive" pinions, which means that they
are in mesh all the time, transmitting this movement from the driving pinions to
the driven pinions.

To engage a gear, it is simply the collar of each speed that engages with the
toothed sector of each pinion. In such a way that it becomes a single solid body
with it, as the collar is fixed to the output shaft by means of a splined sector, it
can move or slide along it until it meshes with the toothed sector of the pinion.

GEAR AND SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM

In the process of meshing the collar with the toothed sector of the pinion, there
is a collision between the internal spline of the collar with the toothed sector of
the pinion because the number of revolutions of both elements is different.

When rotating at different speeds, it is not easy for them to coincide and mesh,
producing strong friction between teeth and therefore great difficulty for them to
mesh. To match, facilitating this engagement, the revolutions of the collar and
the revolutions of the respective pinion that we wish to engage, the synchronizer
ring has been designed, which is initially pushed by the displacement of the
collar. At this moment, the internal conical surface of the synchronizer ring rests
on the conical sector of the pinion, forcing it to brake, where the two elements try
to become integral, in such a way that their number of revolutions will be equal
to the revolutions of the collar. .

SELECTION OF SPEEDS

When the driver of the vehicle, when he needs to select a speed or gear, moves
the gear lever in one direction or another. The lever forces the selector shaft to
position itself in one of the three lines during its movement through the
NEUTRAL point, that is, towards the left and right sides of the lever. When you
push or pull the lever (forward or backward), this movement forces the selector
shaft to move, which pushes the fork of the two selected gears, for example the
First and Second gear shaft, the Third gear shaft and Fourth gear, or to the Fifth
and Reverse gear axis, which is the most common arrangement in a vehicle.

When any of the fork axles move, the corresponding fork will push the Collar of
the selected speed, which will initially push the synchronizer ring, to finally mesh
with the toothed sector of the selected pinion.

To control the selection of gears in the new sequential gearbox, sensors have
been installed on the gear lever. In this case, the lever no longer does the
mechanical work of propelling rods or cables, but only makes "pulses" or signals
to the computer. These sensors send the highest gear selection in the thrust
direction and the lowest gear selection when the lever is found. It also has
position sensors, because the "automatic" or "manual" position can be selected;
It is simply a standard control or sport driving option, which serves the
information computer to determine the response time and to let the vehicle work
on the changes automatically, similar to the automatic gearbox system.

TRANSMISSION

The transmission system is the set of elements that has the mission of sending
the rotation of the engine to the drive wheels.
With this system it is also possible to vary the transmission ratio between the
crankshaft and the wheels. This relationship varies depending on the
circumstances of the moment (load transported and the layout of the road).
Depending on how the transmission ratio intervenes, the output shaft of the
gearbox (secondary shaft) can rotate at the same revolutions, more or less than
the crankshaft.
The crankshaft is one of the basic parts of a car engine. Through it, the linear
movement of the pistons can be converted into a rotary one, which is something
very important to develop the final wheel-based traction, in addition to receiving
all the irregular impulses provided by the pistons, and then converting them into
a rotation that is already regular and balanced, unifying all the mechanical
energy that accumulates in each of the combustions.
If the transmission shaft rotates more slowly than the crankshaft, we will say that
a reduction or reduction has occurred and otherwise a multiplication or
overdrive.
TRANSMISSION TYPES

Front engine and traction: Its front wheels are driving and steering and it does
not have a transmission shaft. This system is widely used in small and medium
power passenger cars.
Front engine and propulsion: The driving wheels are the rear ones, and it has
a transmission shaft. Its layout is somewhat more complex, being used in high-
powered trucks and passenger cars.
Rear engine and propulsion : Its driving wheels are the rear ones and it does
not have a transmission shaft. This system is rarely used today due to engine
cooling problems.
Dual propulsion : Used in heavy trucks, where most of the weight is supported
by the rear wheels and better distributed. This system consists of placing two
rear and drive axles, thus avoiding placing a single large conical group. In this
way the effort to be transmitted by each conical group is reduced by half,
reducing the dimensions, especially those of the pair-conical.
Total transmission : The two axles of the vehicle are driven. The two bridges or
drive axles each have a differential. With this transmission they can, at the
driver's discretion, send the movement to both axles or only to the rear. This
system is frequently mounted on all-terrain vehicles and heavy trucks, especially
those dedicated to construction and public works.

ELEMENTS OF THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

To describe the transmission elements, we consider a vehicle with a front

engine and propulsion since in this the assembly uses all the elements of the
transmission system:

Clutch: Its mission is to engage and disengage, at the driver's will, the rotation
of the engine from the gearbox. It must transmit the movement in a smooth and
progressive way, without jerks that could cause breakage in some elements of
the transmission system. It is located between the flywheel (engine flywheel)
and the gearbox. Within the wide variety of existing clutches, the following are
worth highlighting: -Friction clutches.
-Hydraulic clutches.
-Electromagnetic clutches.
-Spring single disc friction clutch
-Disc clutch
Gearbox: It is responsible for increasing, maintaining or decreasing the
transmission ratio between the crankshaft and the wheels, depending on the
needs, in order to make the most of the engine's power.
• Function of the gearbox: The mission of the gearbox is to convert engine
torque. It is, therefore, a torque converter or transformer. A vehicle advances
when it overcomes a series of forces that oppose its movement, and which
constitute the resistant couple. Motor torque and resistance are opposite. The
function of the gearbox is to vary the torque between the engine and the wheels,
depending on the importance of the resistant torque, with the particularity of
being able to intervene at all times and achieve vehicle movement in the best
conditions.
TYPES OF GEARBOX

Manual gearboxes : These are used in most standard cars, due to their
simplicity and economy. It is manually operated using a shift lever. We can
consider three fundamental parts in its constitution:
Box or crankcase: where the combinations of axles and gears are mounted.
Gear train: set of axles and pinions for the transmission of movement.
Gear shift knob : mechanism used to select the appropriate gear. We study
three types of manual gearboxes: Displaceable variable take-up manual
gearbox: Currently, variable take-up gearboxes are hardly used, as they have
been displaced by constant take-up gears, which have gears cut with helical
teeth, allowing the pinions of the primary or intermediate and secondary shaft
are always in contact. Those with variable intake, since the teeth are straight,
have more wear and produce more noise. The lever has as many positions as
there are speeds, plus neutral.
Normal silent constant thrust manual gearbox: This is an assembly that
allows us to use helical pinions. Helical pinions are characterized by the
impossibility of being engaged while in motion. It is necessary, therefore, that
they be in constant contact. Since there are different gear ratios, it is necessary
for the secondary shaft pinions to rotate freely on said shaft. Since it is
necessary to freely rotate the pinions on the secondary shaft, to carry out the
transmission it is necessary to fix the corresponding pinion with the secondary
shaft.
Synchronized simplified constant-shift manual gearbox: Widely used today,
since there are a large number of front-wheel drive vehicles. Front-wheel drives
are used due to their mechanical simplicity and economy of elements (they do
not have a transmission shaft). The secondary part of the gearbox goes directly
to the conical differential group and, in addition, it lacks an intermediate shaft
through which the movement is transmitted. from primary to secondary through
synchronizers. The drive pinion of the conical group is mounted on the
secondary shaft. They are usually manufactured with a gear that multiplies the
engine revolutions (super direct), which is very economical.

Transmission shaft: transmits the movement of the gearbox to the bevel-

differential pair assembly. It is made up of an elongated and cylindrical piece,
which is attached at one end to the secondary part of the gearbox, and at the
other end to the pinion of the conical group.

Par-conical differential mechanism: keeps the sum of the speeds carried by

the drive wheels constant before taking the curve. It constantly reduces the turns
of the transmission shaft in the drive wheels and converts its longitudinal rotation
into transverse rotation in the wheels.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://hydmotores.com/evolucion-tecnica-de-la-caja-de-cambios- desde-su-
creacion/
https://espaciovolvov60.xataka.com/primera-caja-cambios-leonardo-da-vinci-
hoy-como-ha-evolucionado-modo-conduccion/
https://www.motoryracing.com/coches/noticias/conoce-la-historia-de-la-caja-de-
cambios/