ok then,
well over 10 years ago, i've watched a National Geographic video about transmission box / gear box. In that video, they had showed a researcher in Japan, looking for oil to be used in sequential gear boxes. In that show, they'd made a reference to the first cars in use, saying that they too had had a type of a sequential gear box, that operated like the following:

the gear itself, was a big disc, rotating and connected to the engine. the gear shift lever was connected to a smaller disc, that was perpendicular to the first one. Now, these two discs were always in contact, and by moving the smaller disc alongside the radius of the other, you got lower gears, until you've passed the center - and that was reverse.

please, if it rings and bell - post here

You could search:
Nat Geo TV : All Videos

I did, but couldn't find it