ABSTRACT
The term soft start denotes starting without an initial shock, as may occur when a friction clutch is engaged too quickly. Soft starts may be had by using a torque converter, a fluid coupling, a magnetic particle clutch, a hysteresis clutch, or an eddy-current clutch. In the case of either a torque converter or a fluid coupling the torque transferred for a given input torque may be controlled by controlling the amount of fluid pumped into the converter or coupling. The same effect may be had from a magnetic particle, hysteresis, or eddy-current clutch by controlling the field current.
