Show differential IS NOT understood purpose of mechanism Is to deliver equal amount of power to each rear wheel tiow now many automobile know what a differential Is and of what use it is A writer asserts that even a largo large proportion know little it if anything about it on till nil cars with beveled gear drive such as Is used on the modern passenger cars tho the differential Is located in the rear axle and its purpose la is to deliver an equal amount of power from the engine to ench each of the rear drive wheels regardless of whether one Is going faster or slower than the other what differential does in driving a car in a circle or tiny any part of a circle the outer wheel ea has to travel a longer distance than the one on thu tho inside with the result that it must turn around a greater number of times if the rear axle were ninde made of ono one solid piece connecting the two drive wheels it would then be impossible for fop one wheel to turn more rapidly than tho the other with the result that ono one would have to slip when rounding a curve thus tile the differential permits one wheel to turn faster than the other thereby acm keeping ing either of them from skidding on the ground at the samo same time it Is so constructed that it will deliver the same amount of turning or twisting torque on the wheel which Is turning the fastest as on the other one the construction of the differential Is similar in principle to an evener which la is placed back of a team of horses to divide the load between the the evener divides tile the load between the two so that regardless of whether one horse Is ahead of or to the rear of the other lie ho will be pulling approximately tits ills share of the load in the rear axle of a car Is placed tile the differential which divides the load from the engine equally between the two drive wheels tile the same as the evener divides tho the load between the horses the equalizing action of tho the differential can bo be seen by jacking up tile the rear wheels of the car then putting the gear larr in low speed disengage the ramer emergency gency brake and turn one of the wheels forward or backward at the same time watching the atie effect on the opposite wheel you will notice that the other wheel turned dl erectly opposite to the way uny in which the one Is going this peculiar action has led to many interesting stories from nevy nevi motorists when they have discovered it some disadvantages while the differential Is a necessity in the average car it has some vantages vantage vant agea 3 which have not yet been satisfactorily overcome in case care one wheel drops into a deep so that tho the tire cannot net get traction the differential will allow this wheel to turn around and pr rT eventa everts any morti more power beng being delivered to tho the opposite wheel which might pull the car out were lt it not for tho the differential notion fiction different mechanical devices have been shown at various times to lock two rear wheels together under circumstances str inces of this kind due to the complex nature of these devices how however over they havo nover never come into commercial use A great many patented types of differentials ferenti als have been brought out nt at different times to do away with this spinning of one wheel when in a slippery spot but so far tile tho standard type of bevel gear differential la its used on practically all standard makes of cani cam which seems to prove that nothing better has been brought out so far |