The launch of a new hydraulic pump drive for steep incline applications highlights an expanded marketing program for Funk Mfg. Funk, Coffeyville, Kan., manufactures a variety of powertrain components, including transmissions, gearboxes and hydraulic pump drives, and is responsible for the marketing of axles manufactured by the Power Systems Group of Deere & Co., Funk's parent company. Funk also signed a North American sales agreement with England's International Transmissions Ltd. (see August 1998, Diesel Progress).
The new pump drive for steep incline use is part of Funk's 56000 series, and is similar in design to the existing five pump drives in that range. The new drive carries a rating to 950 hp (2000 lb.ft. at 2500 rpm) and can drive up to five hydraulic pumps. Target markets include trenchers, drill rigs and trash compactors.
The new steep incline configuration includes pressure lubrication, as well as a lowered sump case that is designed to eliminate gear contact with the oil in a horizontal position and reduces contact with the oil in side tilt applications up to 30 [degrees].
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Continuous operation in extreme side tilt applications in normal gearbox configurations can immerse one or more gears totally in oil, causing heating and gear damage because of the churning of the oil, Funk said. The new pump drive design includes a lube pump that supplies oil to all gear meshes, splines and bearings at all times, through internal lines drilled into the pump drive casting. Thus there are no external lines to leak or break, Funk said.
A pressure switch is also part of the new configuration, and can be wired to a panel light to warn the operator of low lube oil pressure in the drive. Further, the new hydraulic pump drive also includes high-contact ratio spur gears for quieter operation and ease of service and cylindrical roller bearings are also used, eliminating the need to shim the beatings.
The new pump drive configuration is also the first of what is expected to be an expanded emphasis on pump drives for Funk. According to Jim Huffman, sales manager, part of that program is increased emphasis on distributor pump drive sales and packaging. This is being done, said Huffman, as Funk distributors are doing more and more work with smaller equipment manufacturers.
The Funk distributors, totaling 22 worldwide, keep unsealed pump drives in stock, as well as gear ratio sets, power take-offs, a range of inputs, clutches, pump adapters and plates that allow them to essentially "build" a pump drive for a specific customer application. There are also 27 service dealers worldwide that support Funk's OEM direct programs.
Some distributors are packaging the Funk pump drives with Deere engines as a complete hydraulic power unit, while others are packaging hydraulic pumps with the pump drives, giving the equipment manufacturer a full hydraulic drive package.
As detailed in August, Funk is now the exclusive sales agent of International Transmissions Ltd., for the Americas. This adds a complementary range of transmissions and axles to Funk's axle and transmission range.
Sorry, I'd rather have a Honda
Two years ago I celebrated the centenary of Rolls-Royce by driving a Silver Ghost, the first of the marque to go into series- production. The example exhibited at the Motor Show in November 1906 was dubbed the 40/50' by then 12 cars had been tested to destruction and the 13th, painted and plated in silver, seemed so magnificent that mere numbers would no longer do and it became the Silver Ghost.
Motoring correspondents of its day wrote of riding in the Ghost as being wafted through the air, as though the wheels were not in contact with the ground, in total silence, at speeds quite unimaginable. Autocar magazine in 1907 was responsible for the myth that "one's auditory nerves" heard nothing louder than the dashboard clock.
Were they blind, deaf and comprehensively insensate? To drive an early Ghost now - cosseted, adored and venerated for a century - is to be deafened by the racket, and to have one's teeth so loosened by the juddering, that the sane man must prefer to travel in a horse- drawn cart.
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During the many years of its manufacture, the suspension of the Ghost was revised, refined and improved, yet it obstinately remained a creature familiar to any charioteer of Julius Caesar's day' and even when the Ghost was replaced by the Phantom I in 1925, the old chassis soldiered on for four more years, carrying the new engine.
The engine may well have been the smoothest, quietest and most flexible of its day, and there can be no doubting its reliability, but in truth it looks and sounds like a barrel-organ built for the Black Dyke Mills Band. It is a big six of 7,036cc, producing 50bhp at 1,500rpm - hardly enough for sparkling performance when bodies by the great coachbuilders of the day brought the on-the-road weight to the best part of three tonnes. That weight was an essential part of keeping the wheels in contact with the road and smoothing out the bounce.
In 1909 the capacity was increased to 7,428cc and by 1911 power had risen to 58bhp. Right at the end of its lifespan, in 1925, it had been persuaded to give 85bhp. By then it had been mated to a variety of three-and four-speed gearboxes with ratios that always made it possible to drive in top gear and no other - a signal advantage to drivers who could not master the business of double- declutching for a silent change.
The British public, restrained by an early speed-limit of 20mph, were less interested in speed than in a car's ability to do everything required of it in top gear. Double declutching to match the rotating speeds of the gears was virtually impossible for most private owners who, if confronted by a hill, were inclined to stop, select the gear in which the car might climb it and stay in it rather than risk the crash of gear-grinding on the move.
Rolls-Royce offered reassurance with a very early Ghost driven from Bexhill to Glasgow in top, and in 1911 this feat was capped by a car driven from London to Edinburgh and back, followed by a speed trial at Brook lands in which the car, nicknamed The Sluggard, roared round the circuit at 78.26mph.
A 15,000-mile road trial to and forth between London and Glasgow without a forced stop further substantiated the car's claim to be reliable. Then a single-seater Ghost circled Brook-lands at 101mph. When in India a Ghost, deprived of tools and with its bonnet locked so that its oil and water could not be topped up, climbed six mountain passes in a row, the car became the favoured marque of nawabs and maharajahs.
The first advertisement for the Ghost then asked the question: "Is this the best car in the world?'" The second unhesitatingly stated that it was. We have believed it ever since.
Was it ever true? Response in Britain to the Ghost was so ecstatic that R-R dropped all other models to concentrate on it and production rose to seven cars a week. I am content to believe that it was, in its first incarnation, the best-made car in the world, the most scrupulously considered in every tiny detail, that the tolerances were such that nothing could ever bend, distort or sheer.
But if the legend meant that the Ghost's engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension were so far in advance of the engineering of the day that they required nothing but a little tinkering to keep R-R ahead of all its rivals, then it was a downright lie.
Royce was a perfectionist rather than an innovator, content to make better what had already been made before. It was Rolls, killed in a flying accident in 1910, who determined that their cars should be big and powerful, that their bodies should all be built by the great coach-builders - exclusive, inventive and expensive independent craftsmen - and it was Rolls who drove the marque into the headlines and high society.
Motoring correspondents of its day wrote of riding in the Ghost as being wafted through the air, as though the wheels were not in contact with the ground, in total silence, at speeds quite unimaginable. Autocar magazine in 1907 was responsible for the myth that "one's auditory nerves" heard nothing louder than the dashboard clock.
Were they blind, deaf and comprehensively insensate? To drive an early Ghost now - cosseted, adored and venerated for a century - is to be deafened by the racket, and to have one's teeth so loosened by the juddering, that the sane man must prefer to travel in a horse- drawn cart.
Advertisement
During the many years of its manufacture, the suspension of the Ghost was revised, refined and improved, yet it obstinately remained a creature familiar to any charioteer of Julius Caesar's day' and even when the Ghost was replaced by the Phantom I in 1925, the old chassis soldiered on for four more years, carrying the new engine.
The engine may well have been the smoothest, quietest and most flexible of its day, and there can be no doubting its reliability, but in truth it looks and sounds like a barrel-organ built for the Black Dyke Mills Band. It is a big six of 7,036cc, producing 50bhp at 1,500rpm - hardly enough for sparkling performance when bodies by the great coachbuilders of the day brought the on-the-road weight to the best part of three tonnes. That weight was an essential part of keeping the wheels in contact with the road and smoothing out the bounce.
In 1909 the capacity was increased to 7,428cc and by 1911 power had risen to 58bhp. Right at the end of its lifespan, in 1925, it had been persuaded to give 85bhp. By then it had been mated to a variety of three-and four-speed gearboxes with ratios that always made it possible to drive in top gear and no other - a signal advantage to drivers who could not master the business of double- declutching for a silent change.
The British public, restrained by an early speed-limit of 20mph, were less interested in speed than in a car's ability to do everything required of it in top gear. Double declutching to match the rotating speeds of the gears was virtually impossible for most private owners who, if confronted by a hill, were inclined to stop, select the gear in which the car might climb it and stay in it rather than risk the crash of gear-grinding on the move.
Rolls-Royce offered reassurance with a very early Ghost driven from Bexhill to Glasgow in top, and in 1911 this feat was capped by a car driven from London to Edinburgh and back, followed by a speed trial at Brook lands in which the car, nicknamed The Sluggard, roared round the circuit at 78.26mph.
A 15,000-mile road trial to and forth between London and Glasgow without a forced stop further substantiated the car's claim to be reliable. Then a single-seater Ghost circled Brook-lands at 101mph. When in India a Ghost, deprived of tools and with its bonnet locked so that its oil and water could not be topped up, climbed six mountain passes in a row, the car became the favoured marque of nawabs and maharajahs.
The first advertisement for the Ghost then asked the question: "Is this the best car in the world?'" The second unhesitatingly stated that it was. We have believed it ever since.
Was it ever true? Response in Britain to the Ghost was so ecstatic that R-R dropped all other models to concentrate on it and production rose to seven cars a week. I am content to believe that it was, in its first incarnation, the best-made car in the world, the most scrupulously considered in every tiny detail, that the tolerances were such that nothing could ever bend, distort or sheer.
But if the legend meant that the Ghost's engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension were so far in advance of the engineering of the day that they required nothing but a little tinkering to keep R-R ahead of all its rivals, then it was a downright lie.
Royce was a perfectionist rather than an innovator, content to make better what had already been made before. It was Rolls, killed in a flying accident in 1910, who determined that their cars should be big and powerful, that their bodies should all be built by the great coach-builders - exclusive, inventive and expensive independent craftsmen - and it was Rolls who drove the marque into the headlines and high society.
Machining Center
The Cincinnati Gear Company, full service manufacturer of gears and gearboxes worldwide, has added a new machining center to its manufacturing equipment. The T-30 Horizontal Machining Center will be used to machine housings and component gears up to 40 in. by 40 in. With the acquisition of the T-30, Cincinnati Gear manufactures more parts in less time, thus increasing production, the company said. As a palletized machine, the T-30 can work on one piece while the operator sets up a second, third or fourth. Additionally, the T-30 is equipped with inspection capabilities to ensure quality products to the customer. The T-30 is a fully automatic machine, including tool selection and positioning, cutting feeds selection, spindle speeds and coolant control. The T-30's 90 tool positioner for milling, drilling, tapping, boring and reaming can be changed automatically during just one handling or the work piece, saving additional time and energy
Mugen Prime 12 RTR
Mugen's shaft-drive tourer takes on the ready-to-runs by Peter Vieira
The ready-to-run RC kits available today are the best ever; in addition to generally excellent factory assembly, many RTRs now include painted and trimmed bodies, fuel bottles, batteries and other accessories that make it easier than ever to go directly from the hobby shop to the track with barely a pit stop to plug in the antenna tube. That's convenient, but every step the factory does for you increases the cost of the kit and homogenizes the car just a little more. There are hobbyists out there who might be looking for an RTR that's not quite as finished so they can say, I built it," not just, I bought it," and even save a few bucks in the process.
Mugen's* new Prime 12 RTR is just such a kit. The chassis is ready to roll, with installed radio gear and glued-on tires, but its Andy's body (your choice of an Accord or a Stratus) isn't painted, so you can give your Prime 12 a unique look, and there are fewer frills to increase the kit's cost. Has Mugen made the right calls to maintain RTR convenience while cutting the cost of entry, or will the Prime 12 RTR leave you wishing for more? Here's what I found out.
The ready-to-run RC kits available today are the best ever; in addition to generally excellent factory assembly, many RTRs now include painted and trimmed bodies, fuel bottles, batteries and other accessories that make it easier than ever to go directly from the hobby shop to the track with barely a pit stop to plug in the antenna tube. That's convenient, but every step the factory does for you increases the cost of the kit and homogenizes the car just a little more. There are hobbyists out there who might be looking for an RTR that's not quite as finished so they can say, I built it," not just, I bought it," and even save a few bucks in the process.
Mugen's* new Prime 12 RTR is just such a kit. The chassis is ready to roll, with installed radio gear and glued-on tires, but its Andy's body (your choice of an Accord or a Stratus) isn't painted, so you can give your Prime 12 a unique look, and there are fewer frills to increase the kit's cost. Has Mugen made the right calls to maintain RTR convenience while cutting the cost of entry, or will the Prime 12 RTR leave you wishing for more? Here's what I found out.
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