Hayes Auto
Transmission
It all began in America when a Frank Anderson Hayes who lived in
Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey USA. began experimenting with a
method of transmitting power at a variable speed, but at the
maximum torque. He filed no less than six patents in America under
the heading Hayes Variable Speed Power Transmission on the 7 May
1929, and then in the UK on the 2 September 1929. Two years later
he again applied for further Patents, this time under the heading,
Improvements in or Relating to Variable Speed Power
Transmission.
I would appear that Frank Hayes, who came over to England in the
late 1920s and through a chance meeting with Captain J.L.
Cloudsley, who owned his own engineering company at 5, Chancery
Lane, London. Captain Cloudsley suggested that Hayes should make
contact with Herbert Austin. A meeting was set up between the three
parties, when it was agreed to work together to improve the system,
with Hayes building the gearboxes in America and supplying them to
Cloudsley Engineering, who would act as an agent for the UK.
Although the system was covered by USA patents, It was agreed that
the transmission need to be covered by a UK patent, so in June 1925
GB254341 was taken by Cloudsley Engineering Co Ltd. There followed
many more patents after, with some been because of the experimental
work carried out with Herbert Austin
29--- June---- 1925-------254341
-
7--- May-----1929------ 343988 &
344061-66
28----April----1932----- -398582
-
5----Sept---- 1933------ 424652
-
2----Dec-----1933------ 431199
-l0-- - Jan----- 1934------ 436363
-24 -- Jan------1935------ 432275
After the supplying various prototypes boxes for evaluation at
Longbridge, The Austin Motor Co. Ltd signed an agreement with FA
Hayes & Cloudsley Engineering Co. Ltd. for them to supply the
automatic gearboxes. I am sure that the agreement that Austin
signed up to would have stipulated a minimum quantity. It was not
until late 1933 that the transmissions became an optional on the
Westminster and the York saloon with either the 16hp or 18hp
engines.
Hayes
transmission installation
York
Saloon
It appears that the optional Hayes gearbox was first available on
the York saloon at around November 1933. Publicity at that time
stated that the Hayes box would cost an extra £40. The early
production models had two levers on the steering column which would
allow the driver to modify how the transmission would operate. This
proved in practise to be a problem, as the driver was confused
which position the two leavers should be in to optimise the
transmission for the type of road condition. So this arrangement
was changed for the 1935 model year, in that it now only had one
lever.
This lever had a "Cold"
starting position, the next position went from Low to High, with
the last position been used if you were driving in traffic.
Westminster
Saloon
With the MKII version along came an increase of £10 for the
transmission at £50. This made a York ex-works price including the
Hayes transmission to £368 for the 16 hp version and £378 for the
18 hp. The Westminster was more expensive at £388 for 16 hp and
£398 for the 18 hp. With the revised box now available Austin spent
a great deal of money on advertising.
This is how the company portrayed the Hayes
transmission.
The advent of the Hayes Self-selector Transmission is a development
of the first importance in the history of the motor car, and for
the following reasons.
Dependability
It
is not an experiment in a new sphere of dynamics. It is a new
application of an old and tried principle, and, as such, the proved
product of years of intensive research and
experiment.
Simplification
It
is a simplification, not a complication of the transmission. It
dispenses with all gears (except to give reverse) and all clutch
operations (except when starting and stopping). There is no noise;
the drive is practically silent.
Infinitely
Variable
It
provides infinite variable engine-speed to road-wheel-speed ratios
within the limits of its range. There are no gaps in the ratios.
The variation is continuous and is fully automatic, yet the driver
can, at will, modify its action to give instantly any special road
performance desired.
An
Entirely New Sensation
It
brings to motoring an entirely new sensation of control, a
delightful mastery over all road conditions.
Sadly
the public did not take to it, even though the Press and people who
owned one, spoke highly.
Only about fifty were sold,
there were probable two main reasons for poor sales. First it was
not strictly a fully automatic transmission as you still had a
clutch when starting off and had to us it to disengaged when coming
to a halt. The extra cost add nearly 16% to the normal price of the
car, this was too higher a price to pay. The actual cost of
producing the box was high because of the tight tolerances in the
machining and grinding the discs and rollers. The Toroidal cones,
which were at the heart of the transmission and manufactured to
very tight tolerances by Ransome & Marles Bearing Co Ltd of
England.
If a fault occurred in the transmission, the agents were not
allowed to service the unit, and a replacement box would be fitted
at a cost of £50. The units were assembled at Longbridge, from kits
which were probable supplied by Cloudsley Engineering Co. Ltd for
the main castings etc. According to an apprentice at the time,
there was one fitter assembling the new units and one stripping the
returned faulty units for repair.
A special transmission oil
was produced which was tinted GREEN and called Drivex produced by
Sternol Specialised Lubricants of Beeston, this had to be checked
every 2,000 to 3,000 miles, and the filter removed from the
hydraulic control unit and cleaned ever 5,000 miles. It appears
that the main problem with the transmission tended to appear at
around 10,000 miles, when the unit would refuse to change ratios.
This was usually caused by wear between the rollers and the
Toroidal cones owing to the large contact pressures. Oil technology
has come a along way since the 1930s (see the article at the end by
Bob Hayes)
It was rumoured at the time
that General Motors paid Hayes and Austin a large sum to cease
their experiments. Knudsen the director of General Motors did pay
the Hayes Company $20.000 over three years for the manufacturing
rights in the US, but this option was never taken up.
_________________
Various
Press Comments
The
Automobile Engineer
The ideal solution of the
transmission problem, giving as it does a smooth variation of gear
ratio between its two limits, and providing at the top end a very
substantial overdrive. Probably one of the best features of the
gear is the character of the control, for any driver who dislikes
absolute automaticity can, in a moment, by the movement of a lever,
change the drive into one over which he has complete control of
ratios irrespective of engine torque or speed, and he is able to
strike any compromise between the two
extremes.
Sheffield
Daily Independent
I
have been driving the world's most remarkable car. In a hundred
miles journey in town and country, batting along the bypasses at
60, crawling through London's heaviest traffic and stopping and
starting on hills, every driving condition was met without a change
of gear. It was no hundred horse-power car either. Just a
big-bodied 31hundredweight Austin Saloon powered with a modest
side-valve " six " of 18 h.p. The biggest-engined car in the world
could not beat this Austin as a " one-gear " car, or even approach
its astonishing flexibility.
Customers
letter to the company, 16th November 1935
In
March last I purchased an 18 h.p. York Saloon (CMH 252) with Hayes
transmission and perhaps you would like to know how much I
appreciate this form of transmission. On long journeys it makes
driving far less fatiguing and in traffic saves all bother of gear
changing. Turning into a main road is easier because speed can be
reduced almost to a standstill without any trouble from the engine.
A good view of the road both ways can usually be obtained without
throwing out the clutch and there is no gear changing before or
after turning. A striking feature is the very rapid acceleration
especially from a standing start. I find that at traffic lights,
for instance, I leave other cars far behind on re-starting and the
rapid acceleration is also useful for slipping past other cars in
traffic.
A very important advantage
of this transmission is the increased m.p.g. Before I purchased my
present car I had an exactly similar car without the Hayes
transmission. For each car I kept for some months after purchase
very careful check on petrol consumption and I find that the Hayes
transmission gives an extra 3-31 m.p.g.
"After my experience of the Hayes transmission I should be sorry to
go back to the ordinary gearbox."
Yours faithfully,
MT
_______________________
For
those of you who are interested in how the system works, read
on.
I have tried to keep it
simple.
Toroidal
Cone
It
is this unique shape that allows the gearbox to work
The Toroidal A is driven by the engine
through a normal clutch.
This is the roller that transmits the
power from A to B Consider this roller like a ball bearing that
has ---------
the top and bottom part
removed. this is then held in the centre by an arm that can rotate
it radially.
The Toroidal B is the output from the
gearbox
This is the link from B to the output
shaft
Output
shaft
Please note that I have
removed all the operating mechanism for clarity.
Because the drive plates are horizontal,
and making contact at the same radius from the centre-line of the
shafts Toroidal A and Toroidal B, then the input RPM from the
engine which drives (A), will make (B) the output shaft rotate at
the same speed but in the opposite direction (See
Note A).
Low Ratio __________________
High Ratio
If the drive plates are tilted as above,
then we can get a low ratio for moving away from rest. Or if tilled
the other way we get a high ratio for
cruising.
In this box the Low gear ratio is 4 : 1
and in High ratio for every rev of the engine the output shaft of
the gearbox will rotate 1.7 revs.
When first moving off, you have to use the
clutch as normal, putting the gear lever into the forward position.
Remember that this box was not fully automatic, but once moving
away from rest it would change up or down according to the engine
power output and road conditions. Because optimum ratios selected
by the box were selected automatically according to the varying
road condition. It would always select the highest ratio possible
so that engine speed would be around the rev-range that the maximum
torque was been produced. So even if the road speed increased the
engine speed and noise level remained the same. Some drives found
this strange at first, but the big advantage was that the engine
was working at optimum
efficiency, so miles
per gallon were greatly increased.
For reverse it
was a conventional set-up, using the clutch and putting into
reverse gear and controlling the speed of the car with the
throttle.
Note A. As the output shaft from
the box is rotating the opposite way, compared to a conventional
gearbox, it was necessary to modify the differential to correct
this. So the crown-wheel needed to be rotated 180 degrees.
____ Normal Arrangement _____________Hayes
Version
_______________________
Article by
Bob Hayes (no
connection) living in New Zealand,
about his Austin 18hp Berkley fitted with a Hayes
gearbox.
Austin 18hp Berkley
chassis, Salmon & Sons body & Tickford
hood.
I first saw a photo of the
car on the owners lawn, grass a metre high and growing up through
the car which was rusty and rotten wood. I wanted it then, but it
was about 4 years later before I owned it. My attraction to her was
that I used to travel with an auto electrician during my
apprenticeship 60 years ago in a 1931 Humber 12 with the same body,
which incidentally I now also own and am in the middle of that
restoration.
I was able to trace the
previous owners of my Austin 18. It was first registered in North
London Plate No BMC 307 in 1934 and owned by the Prince of Wales,
shipped to NZ for the 1935 Royal Tour. The tour was cancelled so
the car was sold to a doctor in Timaru. From there to a Donald
Foster in Greymouth on the West Coast, Then to a John Houston about
1956 who took the car back to Timaru. At this stage the Hayes
transmission was replaced with a manual gearbox, so the
differential had to be turned over. Then sold to a guy Boyce in
Christchurch who removed the motor to have it reconditioned, but
failed to get it back, so the car continued to rot away on the lawn
until I purchased it. I stored it for some years while we built a
new home and large workshop. I was not prepared to start on the car
until I knew I was able to finish it.
I then retired and it was
all go. Stripped to bare chassis, located and rebuilt motor,
gearbox and diff, made new cast iron brake drums. At this stage I
noticed a few mysterious differences like a low ratio lever on the
steering column and an oil pressure gauge for the transmission.
This was my first introduction to a Hayes variable box. I
advertised extensively to no avail.
So proceeded to fit a Borg
Warner 65 automatic re-setting the valve body to suit the 18 motor.
Made a lower stall converter and flex plate to suit. This was to
substitute the variable missing box, then fitted an independent
overdrive from a 3 litre Rover. I replaced all woodwork with
new.
Repainted cream &
green, re-upholstered in red leather, new hood. All new rims &
re-spoked in stainless, new tyres and about a 100 pieces of chrome
plaiting. I licensed the car and personalised the BMC 307 plate for
obvious reasons, this was in 1996.
A few years later an
advertisement appeared in an English Austin Magazine,
For sale a Haines gearbox. I made contact straight
away and, yes, it was a Hayes. It belonged to a Ralph Garrett in
Leicester, I said I would buy it, and a price was agreed. The
container eventually arrived and of course it meant a total
re-build. I made all the necessary parts on my lathe, including the
centre cone.
The next problem was
finding the correct oil. This involved considerable research and
looking for Drivex formula, the original oil. I tried normal
Automatic Transmission Fluid and many others. Some diluted with
kerosene. The next break-through was info on Torotrak, England, who
were the original engineers from Leyland working on the Toroidal
drive units. I was pointed in the direction of an American company
who manufactures synthetic oil in Borneo. This solved all my
problems. After a few miles I did have to make the centre cone
again and a set of rollers. Have since travelled more than 10,000
miles. I would suggest one of the secrets of driving a Hayes box is
fitting a rev counter and having infinite control from finger tip
to the lever on the box.
To drive the Austin, it is
easy to select the ratio. I change from town running to country
touring. The overdrive is very high geared. Pleasant cruising speed
is 50-55 mph but I have driven at 80 mph but-the hood flaps a bit
at that speed.
Gearbox
installed
Car and Hayes
Transmission
