Unusual ways to change gear (updated and improved)

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 02/11/2020 at 16:20 • Filed to: Renault, Jaeger, Automated manual, Unusual ways to change gear

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I first wrote this back in 2017 and was wondering what this unusual contraption was like to actually drive around with. Fear not, it’s been done and recorded for posterity and courtesy of the ever-fascinating Triggers Road Tests on flickr we can read all about it !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

CAR magazine of the UK (still going strong) carried out what they call a twin test so they could compare and contrast two French examples of different degrees of transmission automation. The Simca 1000 Automatique was less than automatique in that it had a three speed manual box, a torque converter and an electomagnetic clutch while the Renault 10 had the three speed Jaeger automated manual, also using an electromagnetic clutch. The Simca required you to choose your desired gear by yourself, the Renault did it for you.

In summary the Renault was somewhat less than satisfactory, at least by modern standards. Starting off was jerky unless you went very gently and gearchanges were both jerky and too common as when driving around town the gearbox tended to hunt between second and third.

What each car had in common, inevitably so at the time, was a carburettor and therefore a choke for cold starting. This brought with it difficulties in warming up, as the drag caused by the Simca’s torque converter tended to stall a cold engine unless the choke was just so while the Renault’s party piece was to close the throttle completely during a gearchange, also resulting in a stalled cold engine unless the choke was just right.

No, I wouldn’t want either. We’ve come a long way.

Now, back to the original:

In homage to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! let’s explore the French contribution to unusual ways to change gear with as little input as possible.

If you had an older British car your speedometer almost invariably said Smiths on the face and the same Smiths made the Easydrive, a twin clutch gearbox long before its time.

If you had a French car the equivalent name was Jaeger and they got in on the automatic transmission game too. Meet the Jaeger push button automatic

Interestingly, this used an electromagnetic particle clutch to a Smiths design. Attached to this was a three speed manual box operated by solenoids. The whole lot was controlled by a relay case containing switches which managed clutch, throttle and gears to provide a jerky but efficient automatic transmission. The system was available in the 1960s in various Renaults including this 10.

Production continued until 1971 when the 10 was replaced by the 12 which had the option of the first electronically controlled automatic box.

Renault still sell cars with automated manuals.

armandthegreat > Cé hé sin 07/14/2016 at 17:15

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Why did push button transmissions never catch on in both Europe and america? The first time I saw a 1960s Chrysler with a push button, I was shocked that we STILL use a stick to select the gears in an automatic,even though alternatives existed for decades. Madness.

MonkeePuzzle > Cé hé sin 07/14/2016 at 17:15

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some people can’t even PRNDL!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Cé hé sin 07/14/2016 at 17:17

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...does it work?

Probenja > Cé hé sin 07/14/2016 at 17:24

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Renault also still sells cars with push button transmissions:

LongbowMkII > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 07/14/2016 at 17:25

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Once.

Cé hé sin > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 07/14/2016 at 17:25

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Seemingly so, it was in production - though I guess in small numbers, the French don’t do automatics - for nearly ten years. It was apparently reasonably reliable but fixing one that was faulty could be a problem.

Cé hé sin > Probenja 07/14/2016 at 17:26

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Well.....if you count turning an electric motor the other way as a transmission!

Cé hé sin > MonkeePuzzle 07/14/2016 at 17:27

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Park would have cost money!

Cé hé sin > armandthegreat 07/14/2016 at 17:33

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Tradition I guess, plus I think it would be easier to find your required position by touch with a lever rather than go scrabbling through buttons.

Buses use them if that’s any consolation. Here’s the keypad for the ZF Ecolife that’s found in most city buses here. It’s got six gears despite appearances. Why do buses use them? Because the driver and a rear mounted box are a long way apart.

jimz > armandthegreat 02/11/2020 at 16:27

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Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > armandthegreat 02/11/2020 at 16:35

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Slip rings and actuator motors were expensive and unreliable compared to a mechanical cable. Then the gear shift lever became an absolutely massive monstrosity to give the driver the illusion that they were operating a massive control instead of doing the same thing as the shifter on a bicycle.

1965 Corvair shift lever:

See how simple and small it is? It’s usually operated with just two fingers and a gentle touch. 

and 100 more > armandthegreat 02/11/2020 at 16:35

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Dodge: Let’s put this in the next Ram. I t’ s easy to use, space-efficient...

Fanbois: UGGGHHHHH! WTF, WHAT IF I ACCIDENTALLY MIX IT UP WITH THE RADIO KNOB HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK NO MECHANICAL CONNECTION TO THE TRANSMISSION BLARRRG.

facw > armandthegreat 02/11/2020 at 16:37

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I suspect some of it was that you had to design the interior to fit a stick shift anyway, so a stick-shift like control made sense, some of it was because it made for an easier mechanical linkage, and some was because automatic transmissions had negative connotations (being for the lazy and those who can’t drive, etc. ). The first and third-problem aren’t really meaningful with manual sales barely over 1% in the US (everything is an automatic), and with electronically controlled transmissions you can put those controls anywhere with ease, so it’s no surprise you are starting to see cars with button or dial selectors again. There is of course still a strong traditional sentiment for the floor mounted automatic.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 02/11/2020 at 17:12

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Pretty well. My dad loves his old Chrysler with a push button. He loves to tell the story of the time his brakes went out and he had to put it in reverse to stop the car