The Washington times., 1921-11-12
NOISY SHIFTING
. Of GEARS EASILY.
DISPENSED WITH
Change in Speeds on All Csso-
line Cars Should Be Made
Quietly,

With a few exceptions passenger.
cars employ the selectivs type OF
Transmission operated by gear-shitt
lever In the center OF the front COM
partment. The few exceptions 10 this
general practice are Ford with a
| pedaloperated planetary transmits
sion; the stevens-Duryea with a pro:
mission, the Stanley steamer which
has no gears to shift and the Kelsey
friction drive car which uses friction
plates instead OF gears. r'fsr So. 4
In one or two makes Of cars fitted
with standard types Of tran emissions
the shifting lever is on the right An.
stead OF In the center OF the ,cha s~ts.
This h the case IN the Stutz Ecar.
Though not now used. a few models
some years ago use a gearrhift lever
on the left OF the driver. whbch was
the case with former models OF the
Packard twin six. g. ..'N |
In the selective type OF transmits
sion there is one shaft with fixed
gears ana another shaft with sliding
gears, the latter being pushed into
mesh with the former when the gear
shift lever IN moved 1t Is quite Easy
10 see that in order to mesh gears, it
is necessary that they be aperated at
approximately the same speed, for
otherwise the teeth cannot slide prop
erly into mesh, says John j. McElliott
in the current issue OF MOTOR.
The average driver. who knows
othing of the action that takes
place when he shifts gears. won
ders sometimes why there Is Grasp
/ ing sound when shifting up or down
The matter of shifting gears quietly
IL one of practice and also OF think.
| ing.
Hesitation VIII Stop Noise.
In shifting from first into second
in most cars IL is necessary TO hesi-
tate for n second before actually 60
ing into second. If this IL not done,
then a noisy shift is likely to result.
The reason for il is that the instant
the clutch is disengaged the second
speed gear is travelling at different
rate than its corresponding gear I'm
the countershaft and the short delay
brings the gear speed about equal.
IL you are having trouble in shifting
from first to second, try the method
of holding the lever in neutral for
fraction of a second. In shiftn
from second to third. or from third /
TO fourth. there is usually no diff
Guilty. However, in shifting from
third back to second, many drivers
cannot avoid gear clashinG. ..r
In the first place, the SHIFT some
times il made in the ordinary man.
ner when the car is travelling too
fast The car should be travelling at
about ten miles per hour. or at the
most, fifteen. Even then many dri-
vers cannot help clashing the gears
! This may be overcome with little
practice by accclerating tho engine n
very slight amount just as the shift
| is made. 1t is not necessary to Keep
on accelerating the engine. but sim
| ply to increase it's speed momentarily
while the shift is being made.
Gears Should Mesh Smoothly.
! OF course If the clutch is first dis
fengaged, il will do no good. the slight
touch of the accelerator pedal must
be mPde a fraction of second he
fore the clutch is disengaged. On
most cars. however, there IL no need
of doing this and the shift into sec.
ond can be made quite easily il the
car speed is not too high.
| Gears should mesh smoothly with
! out any noise. so that. If there is any
/ difficulty in shifting there is no need
trying TO force(the gears into mesh.
| Find out why they do not mesh prop
J ferlw Starting the shift into firs, Is
sometimes difficult owing to a drag
ging clutch, which means the clutch
must be held disengaged for a while
! before shifting into first.
The neutral point. or that position
! Of the lever in which no gears are
| made to mesh, is always at the CEN
] ter and in this position the lever may
be rocked sideways freely. Some of
our most popular cars use different
shifting route, as, for instance, Dodge,
Bucks and others. In the Premier car
there is selective transmission OF
the usual design, but the actual gear
shifting is accomplished by solenoiis
controlled by lever on the steering
wheel similar to throttle lever. The
same lever control is used on the
Kurtz car, which has a mechanical
gearshift which operates when the
clutch is engaged.
Five hundred and seven passenger
automobiles. valued at S39S,134, were