nagle@well.UUCP (John Nagle) (07/31/89)
>"Imagine, for example, how tough it would be to >drive if each automaker had a different place for the gas pedal and >steering wheel." At a comparable point in automotive history, each automaker did have a different place for the gas pedal and steering wheel. All of the follwing have been tried: - Steering with a tiller (very early) - Steering with a joystick (GM Firebird III, circa 1958) - Steering positions at right, center, and middle. - Throttle mounted on steering column. - Throttle mounted on dashboard. - Separate throttle and valve gear control (steam cars) - Throttle integrated with joystick (Firebird III again) - Decelerator pedal (push to slow down!) Manual transmission controls still aren't totally standardized. It took an act of Congress to standardize automatic transmission quadrants on PRNDL. Some early systems were much wierder; the model T Ford planetary brake transmission, controlled by two pedals, being one of the strangest. Pre-selector transmissions have been built (select new gear, then depress clutch once to change). Fluid-drive manual transmissions (manual shift, no clutch) was tried shortly before automatics started to work. What we are seeing is a normal point in the development of a new technology. John Nagle Next week: history of power line voltages
jim@THRUSH.STANFORD.EDU (Jim Helman) (08/01/89)
Were any attempts made to patent the pedal arrangements? It seems to me that many of them might not have fulfilled the requirement of non-obviousness, which, I belive, is the primary cause of application failures. Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics P.O. Box 10494 Stanford University Stanford, CA 94309 (jim@thrush.stanford.edu) (415) 723-4940