last update: 5 october 2002
March 2002. Once, when I was surfing the web for ideas for LEGO-realisations of CVT (continuously variable transmission), I discovered the pages of Rob Stehlik . Apart from a very nice idea for a CVT he also presents an idea for the Torsen Differential. I had no idea of what a Torsen Differential is or does. From Rob's description as "A type of automatically locking differential" I got the idea that this concept was intended as a solution for the well known problem of a car that can not get out of the mud because one driving wheel is spinning freely. I decided to build Rob's Torsen Differential , just to find out if had understood this correctly. Well: It works!
Although Rob's design is very beautyfull, it has some draw backs. Due to his choice of gearwheels, a lot of tension will be built up in the structure before it locks. Therefore, I tried to improve his design. Unfortunately, it is less beautifull.
The main problem was to realize a connection between the structure and the driving gear (the dark grey gear right rotates freely around a LEGO axis and comes with the LEGO differential).
Two other views of this device help to understand its structure.
October 2002. A MLcad model of this construction has been created, and made available, by Mark Warren.
