Composite mechanical drives

Claim 1

A CONSTANT-SPEED DRIVE COMPRISING AN INPUT SHAFT FOR CONNECTION TO AN ENGINE OPERATIVE IN A FORWARD DIRECTION SUBJECT TO SPEED VARIATIONS, AN OUTPUT SHAFT TO BE DRIVEN AT A CONSTANT SPEED IN A PREDETERMINED DIRECTION, A THREE-ELEMENT DIFFERENTIAL GEAR SET HAVING TWO ELEMENTS RESPECTIVELY OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE INPUT SHAFT AND OUTPUT SHAFT, AN AUXILIARY MOTOR TO WHICH THE THIRD ELEMENT OF THE DIFFERENTIAL GEAR SET IS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED, SAID MOTOR HAVING AT LEAST ONE POWER-SUPPLY CONNECTION, CONTROL MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID POWER-SUPPLY CONNECTION, SAID CONTROL MEANS BEING OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT SHAFT AND RESPONSIVE TO THE SPEED OF SAID OUTPUT SHAFT TO CONTROL THE POWER SUPPLY TO THE MOTOR SO AS TO VARY THE SPEED OF THE MOTOR ACCORDING TO THE SPEED OF THE INPUT SHAFT AND CAUSE THE MOTOR TO BE POWER-DRIVEN IN ONE NORMAL DIRECTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE SPEED OF THE OUTPUT SHAFT WHEN THE SPEED OF THE INPUT SHAFT IS BELOW A PREDETERMINED VALUE, AND TO BE DRIVEN IN THE REVERSE DIRECTION BY REACTION FROM THE DIFFERENTIAL GEAR SET TO REDUCE THE SPEED OF THE OUTPUT SHAFT WHEN THE SPEED OF THE INPUT SHAFT IS ABOVE THE PREDETERMINED VALUE, AUTOMATIC UNIDIRECTIONAL LOCKING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT SHAFT TO PREVENT THE OUTPUT SHAFT FROM ROTATING IN THE DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE SAID PREDETERMINED DIRECTION, AND MEANS FOR POWER-DRIVING THE AUXILIARY MOTOR IN THE SAID REVERSE DIRECTION TO DRIVE THE INPUT SHAFT FOR STARTING SUCH ENGINE.