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Trailing reverse gear

 Practical
  (+2)
(+2) 		  [vote for,
against]

Manual gearshifts in passenger cars usually have several forward gears, but only one reverse gear.

This is inefficient.

With very little redesign, a transmission can be constructed with the same number of forward gears, and a reverser unit which makes all gears available in both forward and reverse.

This technology is Baked and WKTE in various agricultural and off-road vehicles, yet does not exist in regular road cars.

Thus the vehicle can move as fast backward as forwards, without any unusual load on the powertrain.

—8th of 7, Dec 08 2017

But I don't think the idea would scale well to my motorcycle .... _5b8th_20of_207_5d_...2fshifting_20wipers
[normzone, Dec 08 2017]

[link]






       Knew a drag racer who won a short race in reverse against a fellow going forwards - He'd probably appreciate this.
—normzone, Dec 08 2017
   

       This is an excelllent idea because [insert reason here].
—MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 08 2017
   

       Better yet, put separate forward and reverse gears on each driven wheel of a front-wheel-drive car, and put the rear wheels on castors, for a vehicle that can spin on the spot.
—Wrongfellow, Dec 09 2017
   

       Just have an adjustable camshaft and restart the engine in the opposite direction
—pocmloc, Dec 09 2017
   

       Baked. Many 2-stroke marine diesels do exactly that.
—8th of 7, Dec 09 2017
   

       Surely, if you run the engine backwards, the principle of microreversibility dictates that it should cool its surroundings while it generates petrol?
—MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 09 2017
   

       Yes, but if you run it for any length if time, the fuel tank overflows.   

       The cost of installing progressively larger storage containers, along with the extra bulk and mass, has so far proved a crippling limit to commercialization.   

       British Rail nearly got there in the 1970's with their APT, the Augmentable Petroleum Tank, but sadly teething troubles lead to several passengers drowning in high-octane gasoline produced by prolonged high-speed running, and the project had to be shelved.
—8th of 7, Dec 09 2017
   

       You will have to provide it with a supply of exhaust fumes. The tricky bit is getting all the CO2 molecules to approach the exhaust intake on exactly the correct trajectories.
—Wrongfellow, Dec 10 2017
   
      
[annotate]
   


 

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