Traction roller transmission

Claim 1

In a traction roller transmission comprising: coaxial input and output shafts; a traction ring mounted on one of said shafts; a sun roller mounted on the other shaft and disposed centrally within said traction ring such that an annular space is formed between said sun roller and said traction ring; and motion transmitting traction roller structures disposed in said annular space and in frictional engagement with said sun roller and said traction ring; the improvement that said traction roller structures consist of roller casters each having two parallel traction rollers rotatably supported thereon and in frictional engagement with each other and one of said traction rollers being in engagement with said traction ring and the other with said sun roller, the combined diameters of said traction rollers in each caster being slightly larger than the radial gap between the sun roller and the traction ring such that the axes of the traction roller of each caster are disposed in a first plane which is slightly tilted with respect to a second plane receiving the axis of the sun roller and traction ring and the axis of one of the respective traction rollers, each said first plane being tilted forwardly in the direction of movement of, and adjacent, the driven one of said sun roller and said traction ring, and a ball-type pivotal support structure for each caster arranged, with respect to the movement of the casters relative to the sun roller and traction ring, in front of each caster permitting the traction rollers to freely swing in any direction, also in parallel alignment with the axis of the sun roller in a plane normal to a radius of the sun roller and the traction ring and permitting the caster to tilt in a plane normal to the axis of the sun roller such that a torque transmitted through the transmission forces the traction rollers of said casters into firm engagement with each other and with the traction ring and the sun roller.