Here's a cutaway of a 2006 Range Rover differential. The idea of the differential might just be the greatest piece of design I'm aware of. The problem it overcomes is this... when a car goes round a corner the wheels on the outside of the bend travel further than the wheels on the inside of the bend. So, car wheels spin at different speeds. But the driven wheels are linked together so that a single engine and transmission can turn both wheels. How can you have the wheels linked so the engine can power them, but still allow them to move at different speeds.
If I was put on a desert island and had to solve this problem it would take 100 years and involve something very complicated. The differential does it incredibly beautifully.
Check out howstuffworks. The animations with straight and turn buttons show it working. When going straight the wheels are locked together, but when turning the wheels travel at different speeds. I see it and I still don't believe it. Genius. And it may go back to 100BC, with the Antikythera mechanism.
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