I thought I had it.
When I was a kid my Dad always told me that "everything worth inventing was already invented and there's no way that I was going to think up anything new or original." Not the most encouraging words, but as many things are in father in son relationships, this was just something that provided me the motivation to prove him wrong.
My whole life has been one of inventing and thinking of new ways of doing things. I don't know if it's genetic or it has everything to do with that deafening voice of my father's echoing in my head, I got to prove him wrong. I've had some successes, although of no consequence for the rest of the world, small inventions, such as advertising flyer's, and engineering contraptions for things around the house have given me pleasure and dismayed or sometimes horified my wife.
So I had a new thought, a new invention. Actually it has been bouncing around my brain since the day I learned how a torque converter on a car works. I'll spare you the technical details but I always wondered why you couldn't adapt a torque converter to be used like a clutch, and I was pretty sure I knew at least a couple of ways to try it. It was of no real motivation to me, I figured someone had already thought of it, it's sooo easy that the only reason it wasn't being used somewhere is that it really doesn't work.
Recently I found a real good use for such a thing. A torque converter that could totally be disengaged from the engine would allow the engine to free spin while the car was driving. By disengaging the transmission cars could coast for a much longer period of time under their own momentum or when on a downslope. This could save a significant amount of gas mileage especially when coupled with other ideas I have.
Thustly I decided to do the check, and this one my father wins, partly. Here is the patent from 1974 for the "Torque Converter Clutch" http://www.google.com/patents?id=0x0-AAAAEBAJ&dq=Controlled+capacity+torque+converter+clutch. There are several variations accompanying most if not all of my ideas of how it could be done. From Hydraulic valving to a simple throw out bearing design not unlike a regular clutch. So my Dad wins part of it, but how this is used in a car to increase fuel efficiency with my other ideas is still out there. Really, the hard part is done, the invention is there, now it's all about application.
My whole life has been one of inventing and thinking of new ways of doing things. I don't know if it's genetic or it has everything to do with that deafening voice of my father's echoing in my head, I got to prove him wrong. I've had some successes, although of no consequence for the rest of the world, small inventions, such as advertising flyer's, and engineering contraptions for things around the house have given me pleasure and dismayed or sometimes horified my wife.
So I had a new thought, a new invention. Actually it has been bouncing around my brain since the day I learned how a torque converter on a car works. I'll spare you the technical details but I always wondered why you couldn't adapt a torque converter to be used like a clutch, and I was pretty sure I knew at least a couple of ways to try it. It was of no real motivation to me, I figured someone had already thought of it, it's sooo easy that the only reason it wasn't being used somewhere is that it really doesn't work.
Recently I found a real good use for such a thing. A torque converter that could totally be disengaged from the engine would allow the engine to free spin while the car was driving. By disengaging the transmission cars could coast for a much longer period of time under their own momentum or when on a downslope. This could save a significant amount of gas mileage especially when coupled with other ideas I have.
Thustly I decided to do the check, and this one my father wins, partly. Here is the patent from 1974 for the "Torque Converter Clutch" http://www.google.com/patents?id=0x0-AAAAEBAJ&dq=Controlled+capacity+torque+converter+clutch. There are several variations accompanying most if not all of my ideas of how it could be done. From Hydraulic valving to a simple throw out bearing design not unlike a regular clutch. So my Dad wins part of it, but how this is used in a car to increase fuel efficiency with my other ideas is still out there. Really, the hard part is done, the invention is there, now it's all about application.
posted by Cemseller at 1:58 PM
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