Switch Pitch

[Gwyn Reedy]

Jim,

You obviously know a lot more about this than I do. Would you care to
elaborate on the Simpson planetary gearset patent and the Ravigneaux design?
Or where can one learn more?

Gwyn Reedy
Brandon, Florida
mailto:mgr at mgrcorp.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu
> [mailto:owner-diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of Jim Davies
> Sent: Thursday, January 28, 1999 9:37 PM
> To: diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: RE: Switch Pitch
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Gwyn Reedy wrote:
>
> > There were comments about the similarity between the DynaFlow and
> > Powerglide. I'm wondering if there weren't more similarities
> between DF and
> > TurboGlide? The latter was a no-shift transmission.
> >
> Yes, the turboglide, dynaflow and the first 2 years of the powerglide were
> similar, non-shifting, multi-element torque converter efforts from GM, who
> did not wish to pay royalties for the Simpson planetary patent and also
> didnt want to use Borg-Warners Ravigneaux-based transmissions.
>
> > Thinking back about all these earlier transmissions: Was
> Detroit slow to see
> > the need for better performance or was the market all attuned
> to smoothness
> > (or so thought Detroit)?
> >
> These 50s era horrible automatics were all GM. Ford was an early user of
> the Ravigneaux, although the early ones were 2 speeds. GM really dropped
> the ball [IMO] after the industry-first single coupling hydro went out of
> production in 1956. It wasnt until the BW 400 came out in 1964 that they
> had another first class automatic. Mopar, of course, introduced a Simpson
> type 3 speed in 1955. Even Nash used 3 speed automatics in the 1950s.
>
>