Who invented progressive lock up clutches?

[flapjack]

OK, so it's 01:00 EDT and I am awake because I drank two Full Throttle energy drinks (for once advertisement worked on me, might have something to do with drag racing). Now my mind is s all jumbled up and I cannot remember who invented the progressive lock up clutch. I remember there were two schools, one was AFT based, the other was L&T based. Based on this I want to say it was Amato/Richards and Bernstein/Armstrong that developed this, but I am not sure. There was no canon; there was a pneumatically controlled hydraulic lever that control the throw-out arm. And so on and so forth.

Any one have the skinny on this?

 

[sparky]

I think it was Clayton Harris. Or was it Bill Mullins? I forget.

I know that Jim Head got on it right away too. Dale Armstrong made it work competitively with Bernstein and he was hooked up with L&T.

 

[flapjack]

I think it was Clayton Harris. Or was it Bill Mullins? I forget.

I know that Jim Head got on it right away too. Dale Armstrong made it work competitively with Bernstein and he was hooked up with L&T.

Looks like it was Clayton Harris. He even filed a patent:

Fluid-operated Clutch - Patent 5435797

Thanks for the tip....

 

[Toby]

Clayton was a sharp cat. He worked out the air clutch too...meaning the clutch was totally not dependent on rpm. Armstrong was the first to take the first 'lock-up' clutch mainstream. He is a sharp cat too.

 

[Mooseman]

Going a bit further back here is a great article on the slipper clutch.

Slipper Clutch Evolution

 

[flapjack]

Looks like it was Clayton Harris. He even filed a patent:

Fluid-operated Clutch - Patent 5435797

Thanks for the tip....

I don't think this is the clutch set up I had in mind. It is more a canon style without being the canon style we know today.

I was looking for the hydraulic (pneumatic) cylinder version that everyone used before the canon style came out.

May Bob Brooks at AFT Clutches would have the history on this.

 

[Just Paul]

There was 2 systems that I remember, one was a timer deal similar to what there was today. Another one started at the hit, and was brought in gradually as one sweeping motion with air. You could jet it smaller or bigger to make it move slower or faster.

 

[Toejam]

Wasn't it Jim Head that first ran Direct drive???

 

[Nitrohelper]

Wasn't it Jim Head that first ran Direct drive???

No , he was among the first to go back to direct drive ,we all ran that in the '60's & early 70's.....

 

[mick]

No , he was among the first to go back to direct drive ,we all ran that in the '60's & early 70's.....

didn't gene snow also figure into this? (back to direct drive)

 

[flapjack]

didn't gene snow also figure into this? (back to direct drive)

Speaking of Snow, he showed me a really cool belt driven centrifugal fuel pump back in the '80s at KCIR. He was just experimenting. I thought that was cool.
Doubly so in hindsight because this was before dual fuel pumps where de rigeuer.

 

[Just Paul]

didn't gene snow also figure into this? (back to direct drive)

Yup. He ran 5.00 at the 88 US Nationals and really opened some eyes.

 

[Toejam]

No , he was among the first to go back to direct drive ,we all ran that in the '60's & early 70's.....

Well what kind of clutches were you running back then?

 

[AAFA-Freak]

Gary Den. had a home built hydraulic clutch cly on his car way back before he joined JFR. Teachers Pet Trans Am I think it was

He would push down on the clutch pedal and this would push fluid to one side on Cly then mash throttle and the fluid would only allow the throwout bearing to move slowly and so far until fully engaged.
I think it was an L&T Clutch.

Mark Niver built a lock up clutch for his dragster that was air controlled that would not lock up till a delay after high gear with Lenco air pods.
Worked very well before NHRA out lawed them in TAD.

 

[wireguy]

Actually the lock up clutch was perfected by Dale Armstrong but it was patented by a man by the name of Elmer Towers in 1931 as the "Automatic Friction Clutch" designed for a Ford Tractor. Armstrong's brilliance kept Kenny Bernstein a 10th ahead of the field in the eighties.

 

[Nitrohelper]

Well what kind of clutches were you running back then?

Centrifical , same as now only with three disc's and two floaters,and six levers... They were called "Crowerglides"

 

[TAFC 5 81]

I also remember something about an "infinite stage" clutch a.ka. "cannon" (1989-90) that followed the 2 stage and 3 stage clutches.

 

[Muddy]

Centrifical , same as now only with three disc's and two floaters,and six levers... They were called "Crowerglides"

Back in 67 perhaps 68 we had a 3 disk Hays. We build it so we could remove spacers from between the stands and pressure plate as the disks wore down with each pass. That was to control the spring pressure at launch. We drilled the fingers so we could put weights on the fingers to control the lockup as the RPM came up and the clutch heated up. Most of it was done by a best guess method.