Howard Frederick Hobbs (21 September 1902 – 15 December 1982)[1] was a South Australian inventor, a pioneer of automatic transmission for motor vehicles.
In 1932 he moved to England, where he spent the rest of his life developing automatic gearboxes that failed to find a market.
A company, Hobbs Gearless Drive Limited, was founded in June 1931 with capital of £12,250 in £1 shares, to exploit the invention.
Other investors were G. H. Scott (factory representative for New Zealand of Austin Motor Car Company, Limited.
In 1950 he produced a hydraulically operated four-speed "Mechamatic" gearbox, which was lighter and more compact than the American models, and found a few buyers.