Transmission

Claim 2

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a support member, a plurality of masts mounted on said support member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery of said roller, a sleeve member rotatably mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said output race to one of said stator and impeller members, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supportiNg said planet pinions, said ring member being operatively connected for rotation with said input race and said sun member being secured to said support member, and an axial loader mechanism mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said support member to said housing for loading said toric roller and planetary sections in response to torque.

Claim 3

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a support member, a plurality of masts mounted on said support member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery of said roller, a sleeve member rotatably mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said output race to one of said stator and impeller members, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supportiNg said planet pinions, said ring member being operatively connected for rotation with said input race and said sun member being secured to said support member, and an axial loader mechanism mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said support member to said housing for loading said toric roller and planetary sections in response to torque.

Claim 4

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a support member, a plurality of masts mounted on said support member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery of said roller, a sleeve member rotatably mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said output race to one of said stator and impeller members, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supportiNg said planet pinions, said ring member being operatively connected for rotation with said input race and said sun member being secured to said support member, and an axial loader mechanism mounted around said central support shaft and connecting said support member to said housing for loading said toric roller and planetary sections in response to torque.

Claim 5

A transmission comprising a housing, input, central support, and output shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a support member, a plurality of masts mounted on said support member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery of said roller, a sleeve member rotatably mounted around said central shaft and connecting said output race to one of said stator and impeller members, said support member being mounted around said sleeve member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member for driving said input race at an increased speed over that of said input shaft, conically-shaped planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, reaction means for connecting said support member to said housing, said ring member being secured to said input race and tapered to contact said conically-shaped planet pinions such that said planetary section serves as a thrust bearing means, said carrier member being operatively connected for rotation with said input shaft, and said sun member being secured to said support member, a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected to said reaction means for securing said sun member with respect to said housing and for loading said toric roller and planetary sections in response to torque, and clutch means for connecting said central shaft to said output shaft.

Claim 6

A transmission comprising a housing, input, central support, and output shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a support member, a plurality of masts mounted on said support member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery of said roller, a sleeve member rotatably mounted around said central shaft and connecting said output race to one of said stator and impeller members, said support member being mounted around said sleeve member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member for driving said input race at an increased speed over that of said input shaft, conically-shaped planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, reaction means for connecting said support member to said housing, said ring member being secured to said input race and tapered to contact said conically-shaped planet pinions such that said planetary section serves as a thrust bearing means, said carrier member being operatively connected for rotation with said input shaft, and said sun member being secured to said support member, a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected to said reaction means for securing said sun member with respect to said housing and for loading said toric roller and planetary sections in response to torque, and clutch means for connecting said central shaft to said output shaft.

Claim 7

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said impeller member to said input shaft, second connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, disc roller means for driving said output race in a direction opposite to that of said input race and at a predetermined speed ratio therewith, third connector means for connecting said output race to said stator member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, said ring member being formed on said input race, fourth connector means for connecting said impeller member to said carrier member, reaction means for securing said sun member to said housing, said reaction means including a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected to said reaction means for securing said sun member with respect to said housing in response to load.

Claim 8

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said impeller member to said input shaft, second connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, disc roller means for driving said output race in a direction opposite to that of said input race and at a predetermined speed ratio therewith, third connector means for connecting said output race to said stator member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, said ring member being formed on said input race, fourth connector means for connecting said impeller member to said carrier member, reaction means for securing said sun member to said housing, said reaction means including a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected to said reaction means for securing said sun member with respect to said housing in response to load.

Claim 9

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said impeller member to said input shaft, second connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a first sleeve member, a plurality of masts mounted on said first sleeve member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery thereof, a second sleeve member rotatably mounted on said central support shaft for connecting said output race to said stator member, said first sleeve member being mounted around saId second sleeve member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, said sun member being secured to said first sleeve member, said ring member being formed on said input race, a third sleeve member rotatably mounted on said second sleeve member for connecting said impeller member to said carrier member and a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected between said first sleeve member and said housing for securing said sun member with respect to said housing in response to load.

Claim 10

A transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, first connector means for connecting said impeller member to said input shaft, second connector means for connecting said turbine member to said central support shaft, a toric roller section including oppositely disposed input and output races, a first sleeve member, a plurality of masts mounted on said first sleeve member, and a roller rotatably mounted on each mast and frictionally contacting said input and output races at the outer periphery thereof, a second sleeve member rotatably mounted on said central support shaft for connecting said output race to said stator member, said first sleeve member being mounted around saId second sleeve member, a friction-drive planetary section including a sun member, a ring member, planet pinions rotatably mounted between said sun and ring members, and a carrier member for supporting said planet pinions, said sun member being secured to said first sleeve member, said ring member being formed on said input race, a third sleeve member rotatably mounted on said second sleeve member for connecting said impeller member to said carrier member and a stationary axial loader mechanism operatively connected between said first sleeve member and said housing for securing said sun member with respect to said housing in response to load.

Claim 11

A transmission comprising a fixed ratio planetary traction-drive section including sun, ring, carrier, and planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier, a toric roller section including input and output races and intermediate disc roller mechanisms frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring being operatively connected to said input race, and a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator, input means to said impeller, first connector means connecting said impeller to said carrier of said planetary traction-drive section to cause said ring to overdrive said input race of said toric roller section, thereby reducing torque admitted into said toric roller section and, consequently, reducing the size requirements of said toric section, means for directing the output from said output race to said stator to rotate said stator in a direction opposite to that of said impeller and said turbine for controlling the relative speeds of said stator and said impeller and thereby effecting torque multiplication at higher input speeds, axial loader means for transmitting the reaction on said sun and said disc roller mechanisms to ground, and second connector means securing said sun to said axial loader means.

Claim 12

A transmission comprising a fixed ratio planetary traction-drive section including sun, ring, carrier, and planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier, a toric roller section including input and output races and intermediate disc roller mechanisms frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring being operatively connected to said input race, and a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator, input means to said impeller, first connector means connecting said impeller to said carrier of said planetary traction-drive section to cause said ring to overdrive said input race of said toric roller section, thereby reducing torque admitted into said toric roller section and, consequently, reducing the size requirements of said toric section, means for directing the output from said output race to said stator to rotate said stator in a direction opposite to that of said impeller and said turbine for controlling the relative speeds of said stator and said impeller and thereby effecting torque multiplication at higher input speeds, axial loader means for transmitting the reaction on said sun and said disc roller mechanisms to ground, and second connector means securing said sun to said axial loader means.

Claim 13

A traction-drive transmission comprising a housing, input, central, and output shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator, first connector means for interconnecting said impeller and said input shaft, a planetary carrier member, second connector means for interconnecting said carrier member and said impeller, a plurality of planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier member, sun and ring members frictionally contacting said planet pinions, reaction means (74, 128, 132, 146, 148, 152, 154, 142, 166, 164, 168) for connecting said sun member to said housing, oppositely disposed toroidal-shaped input and output races, a plurality of rollers intermediate and frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring member being integral with said input race, third connector means for interconnecting said output race and said stator for driving said stator in a direction opposite to that of said impeller and turbine to add velocity to the fluid stream in said fluid torque converter, fourth connector means for interconnecting said turbine and said central shaft, and clutch means for operatively connecting said central shaft to said output shaft.

Claim 14

A traction-drive transmission comprising a housing, input, central, and output shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator, first connector means for interconnecting said impeller and said input shaft, a planetary carrier member, second connector means for interconnecting said carrier member and said impeller, a plurality of planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier member, sun and ring members frictionally contacting said planet pinions, reaction means (74, 128, 132, 146, 148, 152, 154, 142, 166, 164, 168) for connecting said sun member to said housing, oppositely disposed toroidal-shaped input and output races, a plurality of rollers intermediate and frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring member being integral with said input race, third connector means for interconnecting said output race and said stator for driving said stator in a direction opposite to that of said impeller and turbine to add velocity to the fluid stream in said fluid torque converter, fourth connector means for interconnecting said turbine and said central shaft, and clutch means for operatively connecting said central shaft to said output shaft.

Claim 15

The transmission described in claim 6, wherein said reaction means for connecting said sun member to said housing includes an axial loader mechanism having oppositely disposed nonrotating ramp members and an intermediate roller movable relative to at least one of said ramp members as required to compensate for load conditions.

Claim 16

A traction-drive transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, a planetary carrier member, first connector means for interconnecting said carrier member and said input shaft, a plurality of planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier member, sun and ring members frictionally contacting said planet pinions, second connector means connected at one end thereof to said sun member, axial loader means for interconnecting the other end of said second connector means and said housinG, oppositely disposed toroidal-shaped input and output races, a plurality of rollers frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring member being connected to drive said input race, third connector means for interconnecting said output race and said impeller member for variably controlling the speed of rotation of said impeller member, and fourth connector means for interconnecting said turbine member and said central support shaft, and output means operatively connected to said central support shaft.

Claim 17

A traction-drive transmission comprising a housing, input and central support shafts, a fluid torque converter including impeller, turbine, and stator members, a planetary carrier member, first connector means for interconnecting said carrier member and said input shaft, a plurality of planet pinions rotatably supported by said carrier member, sun and ring members frictionally contacting said planet pinions, second connector means connected at one end thereof to said sun member, axial loader means for interconnecting the other end of said second connector means and said housinG, oppositely disposed toroidal-shaped input and output races, a plurality of rollers frictionally contacting said input and output races, said ring member being connected to drive said input race, third connector means for interconnecting said output race and said impeller member for variably controlling the speed of rotation of said impeller member, and fourth connector means for interconnecting said turbine member and said central support shaft, and output means operatively connected to said central support shaft.