Ways Through Which We Move Along.

 Chapter 5:

 Not all of us move at the same pace. Some of us are too quick while some of us take our own time to get moving along. This is nature’s way of programming, which is necessary for us to survive.

 Imagine us all programmed to move at the same speed (Top Gear), even though we all have different hearts (Engine). Not everyone is made that Torquey enough to break inertia, even in the highest gear.

Some will stall, some will judder, some unique ones will get a move on. But in that process, the fuel consumed will make no sense to our environment, our society.

 For our society to function, we required all its Cogs to move in a synchronous, harmonic way. Which means that we need different programming for every one of us, same way each and every Engine requires a transmission suited to its needs. That's how we come to different types of transmission available around us.

 Manual transmissions come in two basic types:

 

·        A simple but rugged sliding-mesh or unsynchronized/non-synchronous system, where straight-cut spur gear sets spin freely, and must be synchronized by the operator matching engine revs to road speed, to avoid noisy and damaging clashing of the gears

 

·        The now ubiquitous constant-mesh gearboxes, which can include non-synchronized, or synchronized/synchromesh systems, where typically diagonal cut helical, or sometimes either straight-cut, or double-helical gear sets are constantly "meshed" together, and a 'dog clutch' is used for changing gears. On synchromesh boxes, friction cones or "synchro-rings" are used in addition to the dog clutch to closely match the rotational speeds of the two sides of the declutched transmission before making a full mechanical engagement.

 The former type was standard in many vintage cars (alongside e.g. epicyclic and multi-clutch systems) before the development of constant-mesh manuals and hydraulic-epicyclic automatics, older heavy-duty trucks, and can still be found in use in some agricultural equipment.

 The latter is the modern standard for on- and off-road transport manual and automated manual transmission, although it may be found in many forms, non-synchronized straight-cut in racetrack or super-heavy-duty applications, non-synchro helical in the majority of heavy trucks and motorcycles and in certain classic cars the Fiat 500, and partly or fully synchronized helical in almost all modern manual-shift passenger cars and light trucks.

 Manual transmissions are the most common type outside of North America and Australia. They are cheaper, lighter, usually give better performance, but the newest automatic transmissions and CVTs give better fuel economy.

 Some manual transmissions have an extremely low ratio for first gear, called a creeper gear or granny gear. Such gears are usually not synchronized. This feature is common on pick-up trucks tailored to trailer-towing, farming, or construction-site work. During normal on-road use, the truck is usually driven without using the creeper gear at all, and second gear is used from a standing start.

 Some off-road vehicles, most particularly the Willys Jeep and its descendants, also had transmissions with "granny first's" either as standard or an option, but this function is now more often provided for by a low-range transfer gearbox attached to a normal fully synchronized transmission.

 Continued......