Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce large questions about the transfer of technology by way of a case study in technological diffusion. At the same time the paper illustrates some of the possibilities and limitations of a narrow case study and underscores the need for some kind of synthesis or theory to help our understanding of technology diffusion. The differential gear commonly found in the rear axle of motorcars is a critical piece of mechanical technology. Over the past 250 years it has been applied for a variety of purposes each of which exploited its essential principle of allowing the division of a driving force—a division caused by intercepting it with some kind of weight or independent force (kidney cam in the equation clock; weights on the 'crown' wheel of a windmill governor and in a dynamometer; the weight of rovings on bobbins in the roving frame; friction of the road as a car corners).
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