Hydrostatic transmission

Hydrostatic transmission
Hydrostatic transmission was yet another idea that was abandoned.  As early as1908, Louis Renault had proposed just such a system.  The idea is relatively simple; the engine drives a pump which sends fluid under pressure to four hydraulic pumps in each wheel hub.  There is no need for different gear ratios and transmission is therefore continuous, the clutch being dispensed with also.  Furthermore there was no need for a separate braking system.  Magès and his colleagues worked on this project for twenty eight years and some thirty prototypes were fitted with the system (2 CVs, GSs and a CX) between 1958 and 1973 and covered a total distance of 1 130 000 km.  However there were major problems with noise and when Peugeot took control in 1974, the project was killed off. Hydrostatic transmissions are used in vehicles such as forklift trucks and some specialist earth moving vehicles.
- via www.citroenet.org.uk