CVT from 1928 at Kop Hill

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Among many fascinating cars at the Kop Hill Climb on the weekend of 17/18 September was a Lafitte Voiturette with a form of continuously variable transmission such as I, for one, had never seen on a car before. The engine tilts fore and aft when the driver heaves on a lever in the cab. This varies the ratio of the drive from the crankshaft to the final drive through a conical/hemispherical driving metal flywheel against a driven leather laminate inverted 'cone'. Here's all the details in pictures: Sorry the details page is a bit small...

 

The Car

 

 

 

The engine and drive device:

 

 

How it was described at the event:

 

 

More detail:

 

 

and the diagrams:

 

[John Dolan - Wirral & North Wales AO]

Fabulous. It's great to see vehicles like this in such excellent condition and not locked away in a garage, a credit to the owner.