 BMW has developed a new three wheel car. The University of Bath has announced that the car promises to give over 100 miles per gallon. The Clever vehicle is a $2.7 million collaborative project between nine different European partners -- from research to industry. Clever stands for Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport. Dr. Jos Darling, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at Bath University, has remarked that the fact that the car has a stylish design and can carry a passenger will make it more appealing to the motoring public generally. Development of the car has taken three years. The vehicles have a top speed of 60 miles per hour. The car can accelerate from zero to 40 in seven seconds. The passenger sits directly behind the driver. BMW began work on the project in December 2002 and completed its efforts in March of this year.
Cars in History:
After the completion of the First World War (1914-18) the European factories have gone for the updating of their production lines. The firm "Citroen" for the first time in Europe in 1919 introduced the American technology of the conveyor assembly. The French branch office of the Spanish company "Ispano-Syuiza", based on the experience of the production of aircraft engines, started since 1919 the release of motors for which the block and the head of cylinders were casted from an aluminum alloy. The French company "Bugatti" in 1924 ventured to cast the wheels from an aluminum alloy for their racing and sports automobiles.
These years there was an impression, that on both sides of Atlantic Ocean, all the automobile countries hurried up in filling the gap formed during war time and tried to speed up technical progress. In America the oil refining company “Standard Oil” in 1923 undertook the release of ethyl gasoline. The additions of cheap compounds in manufacturing, containing lead, allowed to appreciably increasing the octane number of fuel. In turn, such gasoline did not detonate in motors with the increased degree of compression, and allowed them to develop a higher capacity.
In Italy, in 1922, the firm "Lancia" made a sensation by releasing the model "Lamda" with a carrying or frameless (their name that time) body. Such a design was lighter and also less metal consuming than a body with a railed frame. In the 1930's many factories like "Citroen", "Opel" and others followed the example of "Lancha".
At last, in Germany, the country without their own oil fields, the factories Man and "Benz" in 1923 mastered the release of the first serial lorries with diesel engines, which were more economic than the motors working on gasoline. France too conducted experiments with diesel engines, but also equipped automobiles with gas generators as the country could expect the deliveries of petroleum only from their African colonies.
On the edge of the years 1920-30, the automobile industry in Europe went on the rise. On this wave new design solutions, which promised to change the shape of the automobile, were born. French engineer Z. Greguar in 1926 started the theoretical research of hinges of equal angular speeds. They were called synchronous hinges. A spike of designs at the beginning of the 1930's with forward driving wheels: "Citroen" in France, DKV, "Adler" and "Audi" in Germany, "Cord" in the USA.
Designers began to show big interest in machines with an independent suspension bracket of the forward wheels: "Citroen" and "Berlie" in France, "Mercedes-Benz" and BMW in Germany, "Alvis" in England and "Studebaker" in the USA. Due to its application, it was possible to push a front end-face of the engine forward to the centers of the forward wheels and as a result to shift all the interior forward into a more comfortable zone.
In turn the independent suspension bracket gave life to the theoretical research on the controlling and stability of automobiles. In the middle of the thirties engineer M. Ollei was engaged with them in America with success.
The American firms have tried to bring their contribution in the evolution of the automobile. The factory "Cadillac" since 1928 began to produce the models with synchronizers in gearboxes. The same factory in 1930 introduced the hydraulic pushers of valves, and "Studebaker" since 1929 took priority over the usage of the vacuum automatic device for advancing the ignition. The European companies introduced the torsion suspension bracket of the wheels ("Citroen", 1934), streamlined bodies on rear engine machines ("Tatra", 1935), semi-automatic pre-selective gear boxes ("Maibah", 1929, "Dellazh", 1934) and hydro-couplings ("Daimler" 1931).
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