Manual automotive transmission

Claim 1

In a manual automotive transmission having a case, input and output means mounted in said case, gear means operable to connect said input means to said output means, manually operable means including a slidable shifting rod with a fork at one end and supported at opposite ends axially slidably in first and second supports formed on said case, said first support being adjacent said fork and between said second support and said fork, and said shifting rod having a first position wherein said shifting rod allows said gear means to connect said input means to said output means and a second position wherein said shifting rod allows said gear means to disconnect said input means from said output means, said shifting rod being pivotable with said second support as a fulcrum and formed with a step portion selectively engageable with an abutment formed on said first support; the improvement in that said first support has biasing means including a spring biased detent ball disposed in a pocket formed in said first support for biasing said shifting rod in a direction to disengage said step portion of said shifting rod from said abutment of said first support, whereby when said shifting rod takes said first position thereof, said shifting rod is pivoted against the biasing force of said biasing means in response to a force generated by said gear means in another direction to engage said step portion with said abutment, and the engagement of said step portion with said abutment is maintained until said shifting rod is manually operated to slide to said second position by a force produced by the manual operation of said gear means.