VSTs

VST (continuously variable speed transmission)

All of the major auto makers have development programs or already have
installed VSTs on some of their high end vehicles.
The VSTs are complex with lots of pulleys, belts, flywheels, (very
expensive and high maintanence) but they offer as much as a 15 to 20%
reduction in fuel consumption, not to mention the improved performance
in always haveing engine RPMs optimal while varying the gearing.

Now I'm sure this idea has been thought of before, so I'm trying to
find out why it won't work.

If you take two splined cones in an oil bath and slide them in and out
of each other (not touching), you get countinuously variable gearing.
Its much like the torgue converters (wet clutch) used on cars now
which use two seperated plates in an oil bath.

I suspect the reason is that there is not enough surface area at one
end of the gearing scale and you would get too much slippage, but I
would have thought with an oil of proper viscosity and baffling it
still might work.

Any Ideas ???
Bill