Mechanical power converter of variable transmission ratio

Claim 1

A ROTARY SPEED-CHANGE MECHANISM FOR DIVIDING AND CONTROLLING THE TORQUE INPUT INTO A POWER DRIVE TRANSMISSION OF THE TYPE INCLUDING ALIGNED INPUT AND OUTPUT SHAFTS AND A PLURALITY OF POWER-DRIVE COUNTER SHAFTS PARALLEL TO THE OUTPUT SHAFT, SAID MECHANISM COMPRISING A MAIN SHAFT AND COUNTER SHAFTS FOR CONNECTION TO SAID INPUT SHAFT AND POWER DRIVE COUNTER SHAFTS RESPECTIVELY, SAID COUNTER SHAFTS OF SAID MECHANISM BEING GEARED TO SAID MAIN SHAFT TO BE DRIVEN THEREFROM, A PLURALITY OF SELECTIVELY OPERABLE DIFFERENTIAL GEAR TRANSMISSIONS FOR EACH MECHANISM COUNTER SHAFT, SAID GEAR TRANSMISSIONS BEING PROVIDED WITH MESHABLE GEAR PAIRS OF RESPECTIVE TRANSMISSION RATIOS WITH A CONSTANT TRANSMISSION-RATIO GRADUATION FROM GEAR PAIR TO GEAR PAIR THROUGH A PREDETERMINED RANGE, EACH OF SAID GEAR TRANSMISSIONS BEING PROVIDED WITH SLIP MEANS, ONE SIDE OF EACH OF SAID SLIP MEANS BEING CONNECTED TO A RESPECTIVE MECHANISM COUNTER SHAFT AND THE OTHER SIDE THEREOF BEING CONNECTED TO SAID MAIN SHAFT THROUGH A RESPECTIVE ONE OF SAID GEAR PAIRS FOR CONTINUOUSLY VARYING THE SPEED OF EACH MECHANISM COUNTER SHAFT THROUGHOUT THE RANGE OF SAID GRADUATION, WHEREBY A PORTION OF THE TORQUE FROM SAID MAIN SHAFT IS DISTRIBUTED DIRECTLY TO SAID COUNTER SHAFTS AND SAID SLIP MEANS CARRY ANOTHER PORTION OF SAID TORQUE.