Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-12-30
Should Give No Trouble if a
Gradual Application of Power
and fabrication is Given


You would find little pleasure in au.
iomobiling IL IL were not for the
springs under the frame. The spring
absorbs the sudden shock or trans
forms Il to a more gradual movement.
For much the same reason a clutch Is
interposed between the engine and the
rear wheels. The power of the gaso-
line motor Cannot be smoothly APP
piled as can that of the steam en-
CINE, and we must use some means Of
bringing the driving shaft and the
driven shaft gradually to the same
speed
To accomplish this we break the
driving shaft just behind the flywheel
and interpose a clutch. according TO
Charles Hammond in Motor Life. The
clutch. reduced to its elementary prin-
ciples, consists OF two surfaces, one
attached TO the driving shaft and one
TO the driven shaft. A stiff spring
forces these surfaces together and
they slip one upon the other until both
OF them are turning at the same speed.
IL you disengage these surfaces and
compress the spring which holds them
together the connection between the
engine and the rear wheels Is broken.
You can see that in order to hold
the surfaces together q heavy pres
sure IS required. and also that this
pressure must be limited, because II
Il is too great you will have difficulty
IN bringing the clutch out OF engage
m6nt. For this reason the cone
clutch was the first to become popular
as soon as modern transmission gear
ing camc into use. This Is because
the conc enters the flywheel like a
wedge, and comparatively slight
pressure exerted behind il will cause
a much greater pressure on the sur
faces OF the cone. For instance, a
spring pressure OF thirty pounds will
cause pressure between the surfaces
OF about one hundred and fifty
pounds.
Certain principles OF construction are
common 70 all types Of clutches. The
transmission shaft has bearing in
the center q ths flywheel which
serves to keep It in alignment with
the crank shAft, but which. OF course,
permits II to turn with relation to it,
The surface which makes engagement
IS free to slide longitudinal!y on its
shaft, but is keyed to II so that 1t
cannot rotate independently If you
depress the clutch pedal 1t forces the
clutch release ring back against the
spring and draws the clutch out Of
engagement.
TIE Disc Clutch
sz'Thf fIisc clutch. with sitssraried de-
signs. Is today as popular as the cone.
In fact, the clutch equipment of mod
ern automobiles is divided almost
equally between these two types. With
the discs there is no wedging action.
and in order to get the same total /
pressure the surface must be greater.
A number of plates, half of them at.
tached to the driving shaft and hall
TO the driven shaft, are pressed togeth-
er by q spring to engage the clutch
These plates must of course be keyed
in some way to their respective shafts
so that they turn with them butt are
free to move longitudinally The prin-
ciple is exactly the same as that
which yon found in the cone clutch.
The disc clutch sometimes runs in
oil, or may be Of the dry disc type.
The material of the friction surfaces
Is also subject to a wide variation and
may be steel against steel. steel
against brass, steel against cork in. |
serts, or the more popular constrnc- !
ton, steel against friction fabric
A thir4 type which might in real
ity be included under the disc clutch
heading Is the single plate clutch. /
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