The First CV Joints
As front wheel drive systems became more popular, with cars such as the BMC Mini using compact transverse engine layouts, the shortcomings of universal joints in front axles became more and more apparent. Based on a design by Alfred H. Rzeppa which was filed for patent in 1927 (a CV joint, the Tracta joint, designed by Pierre Fenaille at Jean-Albert Grégoire's Tracta company was filed for patent in 1926), constant velocity joints solved many of these problems. They allowed a smooth transfer of power despite the wide range of angles through which they were bent.
Read more about this topic: Constant-velocity Joint
Famous quotes containing the words the first and/or joints:
“Knowledge has two extremes. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find themselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great minds, who, having run through all that men can know, find they know nothing, and come back again to that same natural ignorance from which they set out; this is a learned ignorance which is conscious of itself.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“To round that shell’s elaborate whorl,
Adorning every secret track
With the delicate mother-of-pearl,
Made the joints of Heaven crack....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)