http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/09/02/what-will-your-next-car-look-like/
Modern Mechanix ( Feb, 1931)
What Will
Your Next Car Look Like?
"...It is the nearest approach on the market today to the dream
of a gear-shiftless car with an infinite range of speeds,
virtually a speed for every added revolution of the engine.
Several years ago a Greek engineer in London named
Constantinesco developed a torque converter which eliminated
gear shifting, and it was tried with some success, but has not
as yet proven practical in volume production.
The theory of the Constantinesco device requires higher
mathematics and considerable knowledge of physics to explain or
understand, but in operation it allows the engine to idle
without transmitting motion to the wheels. When the accelerator
is depressed and the engine speeds up the torque converter
changes its motion and begins to impart rotary motion to the
shaft, the speed of the motion depending on the engine speed and
the resistance of the car. In other words, starting from a dead
stop, the device imparts the engine revolutions to the
transmission in the form of few revolutions at high power, and
as the car gets under way and resistance decreases the converter
changes its movement and transmits more revolutions at less
power. It automatically adjusts its speed to the power required
to overcome resistance."
