San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies says it has struck a deal for what is literally a “greenfield” application of its NuVinci continuously variable transmission. The venture-backed company, which has been steadily expanding the market for its transmission technology, has signed a licensing agreement with Hydro-Gear of Sullivan, IL, a leading maker of drive systems for lawnmowers and the outdoor power equipment market.
Under the agreement, Fallbrook and Hydro-Gear say they will develop a new application—an infinitely variable transmission (IVT) for zero turn radius (ZTR) riding mowers, which pivot rather than turn, as well as other types of mowers, and garden equipment. The IVT transmission, which incudes forward, reverse, and zero output (idling) within its range of gearless input-to-output ratios, enables the mower to move quickly forward and backward without manual shifting. The innovation represents the latest in a series of technological advances over the past decade that have transformed riding mowers into more powerful, sophisticated, and versatile machines that also are used to plow snow, haul firewood, and carry out other chores.
Author: Bruce V. Bigelow
In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here.
Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.
View all posts by Bruce V. Bigelow