Originally Posted by
Gary cw
But my understanding is that the epicyclic gearing was in fact patented by Rolls Royce. If anyone believes it was ' invented' before please let me know. I can change my details. Going back to the patent it would not have been approved as a patent if it already existed.
I don't "believe" it was invented beforehand, I know it was. I've no idea what Rolls-Royce patented but even discounting the Greeks and Romans 2,000 years ago, Frederick Lanchester used an epicyclic gearbox in his first car built in 1895. You've probably never heard of him but he was a brilliant engineer, innovator/inventor and designer, more so in my opinion than Royce who was a brilliant development engineer. Royce even described himself as a mechanic.