Shift control for transmission

Claim 1

In a transmission having an output shaft, a first gear rotatably mounted on said shaft, a second gear rotatably mounted on said shaft, a shift dog mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith and for slidable movement with respect thereto, said shift dog having a first position engageable with said first gear, a second position engageable with said second gear, and a third, neutral position therebetween in which said shift dog is disengaged from both gears, a shifter fork engaged with said shift dog for moving said shift dog among its three positions, said shifter fork having a shaft extending away from said shift dog, a shift lever connected to said shaft and movable among three positions to correspondingly move said shift dog among its three positions by said shifter fork, a lockout plate having an opening including an elongate slot with three notches along one side corresponding to the three positions of said shift lever, with a central one of the three notches corresponding to the neutral position of said shift dog and the outer notches corresponding to the two engaged positions of said shift dog, said shift lever extending through said opening, a guide located adjacent said elongate slot, a lockout slider having a portion guided in said guide for movement parallel to said slot and having two projections in alignment with said elongate slot, said projections being spaced apart a distance approximately equal to the width of the central notch, said guide having stops engageable with said slider to limit movement of said slider so that said projections can be moved in each direction along said slot a distance only about equal to the width of one of the notches, whereby said shift lever can only be moved from one notch to an adjacent notch at a time and cannot be moved between the outer two notches without first being moved into the central notch.