The earlier 4-speed Hydra-Matic utilized a fluid coupling, which is similar to a converter but does not utilize the third element to multiply torque.įluid couplings were introduced by Chrysler in 1939, GM in 1940 and Ford in 1942. The first torque converter used by GM was installed in a 1949 Buick Dynaflow automatic transmission, and the first Pontiac transmission to be so equipped was the 1961 3-speed Roto Hydra-Matic. Later, a truck was produced in Sweden in the '30s with a torque converter. The first automotive torque converter was tested in the 1920s in Germany, and torque converters were used in railcars in the 1930s. This torque-improving device was the first torque converter in use and, since it incorporated the stator (reaction member) to multiply torque, it formed the basic design for all modern torque converters. The same engineer also devised a coupling with an enclosed reaction unit to increase torque. The first use of hydraulic coupling to connect a powerplant to a load occurred in the early 1900s, when a German engineer coupled a ship turbine to the propeller via a fluid drive device. All worked to some degree, but all had disadvantages. Various techniques for coupling the engine to the rest of the drive train by electric and vacuum-operated clutches, fluid drive mechanisms, and Henry Ford's foot-actuated planetary drives in his Model Ts have been tried. Today, we take torque converters for granted, but their implementation was a tremendous breakthrough in the development of modern automatic transmissions.
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