Description
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This video traces the evolution of the automotive clutch, from leather belts to modern hypercar transmissions.
THE FIRST CLUTCH
• 1870: Marcus's cart needed its wheels lifted off the ground to start.
• 1886: Benz adapted factory belt-and-pulley slippage to the Patent-Motorwagen.
• Leather belts stretched when wet and shrank when dry.
• Belts glazed under heat and snapped at their laced joints.
• Drivers dressed belts with beef tallow, cod liver oil, or castor oil and resin.
CLUTCH CONES
• Tapered geometry wedged spring force outward to multiply clamping pressure.
• A 9.6° cone angle increased torque capacity sixfold over a flat surface.
• Practical angles stayed between 12–15° to avoid jamming on release.
• Leather bands were oiled with neatsfoot oil to soften the violent bite.
• Stored cars often had a stick wedged under the pedal to prevent bonding.
MULTI-PLATE CLUTCHES
• Stacked thin discs scaled torque capacity without growing in diameter.
• Hele-Shaw's 1905 design used oil film viscous drag instead of friction.
• 80% of cars at the 1907 Paris Motor Show used Hele-Shaw clutches.
• The 1908 Itala Grand Prix car ran a 64-plate Hele-Shaw unit.
• William Morris ran cork inserts in oil to keep them from catching fire.
• Bugatti's 1924 Type 35 used a wet multi-plate and won over 1,000 races.
• Wet multi-plates remain the standard inside modern motorcycle gearboxes.
THE SINGLE-PLATE DRY CLUTCH
• Ferodo introduced asbestos friction linings around 1908.
• Asbestos resisted heat shock without glazing, melting, or disintegrating.
• Borg & Beck patented the single-plate dry clutch in Moline, Illinois in 1910.
• Their first contract saved the Jeffery Quad army truck from cancellation.
• 85% of UK clutches were Borg & Beck units by 1956.
• Ferodo's first non-asbestos pads arrived in 1979.
• Replacements used aramid, ceramic, glass, and semi-metallic blends.
THE DIAPHRAGM SPRING CLUTCH
• Replaced coil spring rings with a single Belleville-style conical disc.
• Slotted fingers acted as integrated release levers.
• Non-linear load curve sharply reduced pedal effort past peak compression.
• Geometry self-compensated for friction disc wear over time.
• Immune to the centrifugal bowing that distorted coil springs.
• GM fitted an early version to Chevrolets from 1938.
• LuK commercialised the modern design in 1965 on the VW 1600.
THE AUTOMATED MANUAL
• US automatics outsold manuals by the end of the 1950s.
• The Saxomat used a centrifugal clutch and a vacuum servo from 1955.
• VW's 1968 Autostick paired the Saxomat concept with a torque converter.
• Ferrari's 1989 640 introduced the first paddle-shifted F1 gearbox.
• The design was driven by aerodynamics, not shift speed.
• The 1997 Ferrari 355 F1 was the first paddle-shifted production car.
• Single-clutch shifts felt jerky due to unavoidable throttle cuts.
THE DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION
• Adolphe Kégresse patented the dual-clutch concept in 1935.
• The 1961 Hillman Minx Easidrive was the first production DCT.
• Porsche developed PDK from 1981 to fight turbo lag in Group C racing.
• A 962 with PDK won its debut race at Monza in 1986.
• VW's 2003 DSG used two concentric wet multi-plate packs.
• DSG handover shifts complete in under 200 milliseconds.
• The 2005 Bugatti Veyron used a 7-speed DCT to handle 1,001 hp.
• LuK's 2008 dry DQ200 sacrificed torque capacity for efficiency.
• Koenigsegg's Jesko uses seven clutches across multiple shafts for nine ratios.
THE RETURN OF THE DOG CLUTCH
• AWD EVs waste range dragging unpowered motors as generators.
• Toothed dog clutches engage with zero slip and zero drag.
• Electric motors act as their own synchronisers before the teeth mesh.
• Modern systems reconnect in as little as 20 milliseconds.
• Magnetic latching draws no power once engaged.
• Disconnecting one axle recovers 10–20% of driving range.
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USE OF AI DISCLOSURE
03,58 - Image composited from several mismatched low quality photos.
10,08 - Used to expand framing for 16:9 and improve clarity.
11,53 - Poor quality photo upscaled and cleaned up.
26,07 - Diagram elements recolored and minor shape corrections.
27,17 - Used to expand framing for 16:9.
3D MODEL CREDIT
"Erster Dreirad-Motorwagen von Carl Benz" (https://skfb.ly/ozQTY) by Deutsches Museum | Digital is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
#Clutch #Automotive #Engineering #CarHistory #Transmission #DualClutch #Motorsport #Gearbox #HowItWorks #AutomotiveHistory