The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-06-04
WHAT HAPPENS
TO YOUR GEARS
Automobile Experts GO Into Why's and
Whcrefores Of the Process and
Tell What It
-" Does.
SOME PARTS ARE IDLE
When Car is Not in Gear Driving
Units are eparate-Some Hints
Handed to Begin
SOME PARTS ARE IDLE

A writer in the New York Amerl.
can tells in the following story just
what happens to your car when you
shift gears:
i Probably not more than SO per
cent Of automobile driver know ex'
actly what happens when they Shift
gears. They know that they depress
the clutch pedal, make the shift and
'.then allow the clutch pedal to rise
to its original position. They do not
, know, however. just what is taking
place during these operations. This
is one point which should be under
stood by everybody who drives, be-
cause by knowing exactly what parts
are functioning and how they are
doing so a great amount of abuse can
be eliminated and the life of the car
CORRESPONDENCE increased.
j The progression Of power or drive
is from the crankshaft through the
clutch, sthence through the transmits
sion gearbox and finally on to the
propeller shaft. The clutch is inter.
posed between the engine and the
gearbox, and is simply a device for
disconnecting the engine from the
remainder of the car, allowing it to
run idle while the car is stationary.
When the clutch is in it's normal po'
sition with the pedal untouched by
the foot, the clutch is engaged. With
the gears in neutral, the engine idles,
driving through the.sclutch into the
! gearbox, with the gears out Of mesh
, in such way that there is no con-
inection between the propeller shaft
and the engine crankshaft.
! Will Be ic>. /
| With the clutch disengaged-that
| is, by pushing down en- the pedal
the driving and driven units of tbs
| clutch are separated, allowing all
parts of the transmission gear set tc
! become disconnected from the engine
drive and stationary. Thus the en-
| CINE will idle even with the gears
/ engaged while the clutch is in the
idisengaged position. As soon as the
clutch is engaged, however, it takes
| hold and moves the car.
4 -. Regardless Of whether the clutch
| is cone type, disc type or any other
construction, there ~areEtwo' sets Of
parts, one constituting the driving
units which are connected in a fixed
manner to the engine flywheel, which
! is in turn connected to the crank
shaft The other set are the driven
fHnits, and these are connected to the
7ofiain transmission sshaft. When the
ffriction faces are dfsengaged. there
lis no drive between the crankshafI
and the transmission main shaft, AS
soon as these friction faces come in
contact with each other, drive CON,
Pmences, and when the FRACTIONAL pull
is strong enough to overcome the
rolling resistance of the car the cal
| moves Harvard.
/ With the engine driving the cal
| through the medium of the clutch
and pressure exerted between the
gear teeth, the entire transmission
of power being caused by the push
of one set Of gears against tho
other For this reason it is quite diff
ficult to separate the gears with the
clutch engaged; that is, If the cal
| was running along with the engine
pulling the car, the pressure between
the gear teeth would be so large that
Wit would require considerable effort
to move the shifter into neutral posi-
ton. The disengagement of, the
clutch, however, separates the drive
from the gear set and the gear shiftel
moves into neutral quite easily. q