Transmission with offset differential and deep wide groove radial ball bearing supporting intermediate shaft

Claim 1

In a vehicle comprising a fixed member and two axially opposed driven wheels, a transmission comprising: (a) two drive shafts of equal length, each flexibly drivingly coupled at its outer end to one of said wheels; (b) a differential axially located closer to a first one of said wheels and farther from the other one of said wheels, comprising: (b1) a first power output shaft extending towards said first wheel and flexibly drivingly coupled at its outer end to the inner end of the one of said drive shafts whose outer end is drivingly connected to said first wheel; and (b2) a second power output shaft extending towards said other wheel; (c) an intermediate shaft, flexibly drivingly coupled at its inner end to the outer end of said second power output shaft, and flexibly drivingly coupled at its outer end to the inner end of the other of said drive shafts whose outer end is drivingly connected to said other wheel; (d) a bracket, mounted at its one end to said fixed member; and (e) a deep groove radial ball bearing comprising an inner race formed with a inner race groove, an outer race formed with an outer race groove, and a plurality of balls of substantially equal diameters running in said inner race groove and in said outer race groove; said outer race being fixedly mounted to the other end of said bracket, and said inner race supporting an outer part of said intermediate shaft and being fixedly mounted thereto; the cross sections of said inner race groove and of said outer race groove being approximately part circular; and the radius of said cross section of said inner race groove being approximately 0.52 times the diameter of said balls, while the radius of said cross section of said outer race groove is approximately 0.60 times the diameter of said balls.