The Raymond V4 and hydraulic transmission.
AUSTRALIAN MONTHLY MOTOR MANUAL October 1950
Unique Australian far With Hydraulic Transmitter
Motor Manual is privileged this month to print the first pictures and description of a remarkable car wholly designed and built in Australia
THE RAYMOND V-4
Mr. Raymond Moore, of Melbourne, Victoria, its clever designer owner-builder, built this car in his own home workshop in 1938. Since then it has covered thousands of miles as a mobile test bed for Mr. Moore's ingenious industrial hydraulic transmissions, and he cites the car as the foundation stone on which he has built his engineering manufacturing workshop in South Melbourne during post-war years.
GEARLESS TWO STROKE.
From bumper to bumper the car is 100 per cent. Mr. Moore's design. The power unit is a small, rugged, four cylinder V type two stroke engine with carburettion through a centrifugal supercharger. A hydraulic
pump with a cunning reversible flow device is mounted at the rear of the engine, and two pipe lines lead to two hydraulic motors mounted on the back axle assembly, one driving each wheel.
There are absolutely no gears to take the drive from the engine to the wheels. Suspension at the rear is by a transverse leaf spring. while the front wheels are independently suspended on a transverse spring and wishbones.
Driving the car is child's play. There are three pedals, brake, accelerator, and what could be described as a torque control pedal, which, if pressed right down, reverses the car. To move off, the torque control pedal is depressed half way,
the engine accelerated, the torque control pedal brought up slowly, at which the car picks up speed. Allowing the pedal to come right out gives the highest ratio of engine to back wheel speed, or what would be top gear in a normal car.
As it stands at present, the Raymond V4 is purely and simply a test bed. Mr. Moore is not disinterested in the idea of putting it into production, but before doing this he would build further prototypes. At present, however, his factory is kept fully occupied with the manufacture of industrial equipment. However, in view of the interesting nature of the design, Motor Manual will print a technical review and road test In the November issue
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