Doughnuts, donuts, bagels and giubos-

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-1094 Scott Corsaro asks "Are the Italian's the only people who use the 
doughnut in the drive shaft? - - -  What are the advantages of a doughnut 
over a "regular" drive shaft?"

A predecessor was used on the 6C 2300 and 6C 2500 with (I believe) 
fabric-reinforced rubberized sheet (one friend referred to the original 
Italian patents of the engineer Boschi with "multiple drive pins in pieces of 
garden hose"} which then developed into the molded rubber "Giunti Boschi" 
("giubo", abbreviated from GIUnti BOschi, Boschi's joints) patented in the 
fifties. The British version is called "Metalastic" and I first remember 
seeing it on the Ford-powered Lola which was bought-out by Ford and developed 
into the GT-40. I believe they were also used on  some Loti and other 
low-production cars of the period, but these are not my bag. Friend mentioned 
above says the main difference between the Giubo and the Metalastic joint is 
metric measure instead of inches, but he wasn't sure whether they were 
independant patents or one licensed on the other. The concept is not entirely 
new, I have seen examples of the principle in the nineteenth century and 
wouldn't be surprised if it went far back before that, but the later details 
of execution would have been patentable. The main advantage would be some 
cushioning of the driveline, which might lessen wear and/or "noise, vibration 
and harshness"-

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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