Did a Swiss invent Variomatic, Multitronic and co?
08/17/2019
In our extensive archive (which is available online for Zwischengas users with a Premium membership), we came across an interesting article in Automobil Revue No. 36 from September 1, 1977.
In 1943, in the midst of the turmoil of the Second World War, the inventor Oskar Schiess from eastern Switzerland designed a continuously variable transmission to be installed in a "multiple-drive motorcycle". In this transmission, the power was transmitted to pulleys with conical inner surfaces by means of belts. Together with springs, these provided force-dependent different ratios. Today, similar transmissions are known under the name Variomatic, which were mainly installed in DAF (later Volvo). It was not until long after the war that Oskar Schiess took up his invention again and fitted the gearbox together with an auxiliary motor to a ladies' bicycle. However, as an innovative inventor, this was not enough for him. He built batteries into a bicycle trailer, which drove two electric motors connected via a differential. This enabled him to roll through the villages quietly and emission-free. When the petrol engine was started, the electric motors switched off automatically and the batteries were charged at the same time. It's amazing what was possible decades before the hybrid and electric car hype!
You can of course read the article from that time online in our magazine archive.
