--- John Lawson <jpl15_at_panix.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 2 May 2003, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> > --- "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwightk.elvey_at_amd.com> wrote:
> > > The power steering of your auto is an example of an analog fluid
> > > amplifier.
> >
> > I don't think _my_ auto (1968 Beetle) is an example of that. :-)
>
> Well, now - not so fast! While your Bug may not have power steering,
> if it's got an automatic transmission...
Nope... 4-speed manual. There was this thing called an "auto-stick",
but that was a servo-operated clutch (and an ordinary manual transmission)
that engaged when you began to move the stick. You still shifted, but
you didn't clutch.
Anyway... I didn't mean to spawn a car thread here - I just wanted to
speak up because of the comments that suggest that we all drive
power-everything cars. My 1976 MicroBus does have an analog-component
fuel-injection computer, but I think we've hashed those out here
before (and it has manual steering and a 4-speed manual transmission,
too, plus a vacuum-assisted non-power hydraulic brake system).
I do agree that _a_ power steering rig on _many_ cars is an example
of a fluidic amplifier. Presumably, one could argue the same for
the master cylinder/slave cylinder on hydraulic brakes. There's
even a logic element - a safety mechanism that's been standard
in cars sold in the U.S. for decades - a slug in the master cylinder
that sits between the front fluid loop and the back fluid loop that
*normally* just sits there. In cases where you lose pressure in
one loop, it is forced to the low-pressure side and operates the brakes
in fail-over mode. I'm not sure whether to call it a comparator or
a flip-flop. Maybe it's a comparator that drives a flip-flop when
the pressures aren't equal. In any case, in a VW, there's a red
light on the dash that lights up when the slug moves. It works.
Trust me on that. :-)
-ethan
P.S. - re-reading the top of this, in case my use of the term "auto"
was read as short for "automatic transmission", it wasn't meant as
such. I was recycling the term from the previous poster and using it
as an abbreviation of "automobile" (unless you are a fan of "Futurama",
then it's "automacar" ;-)
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Received on Fri May 02 2003 - 18:43:07 BST