Variable speed positive gear transmission

An infinitely variable speed positive gear to gear contact transmission including:

• a. a frame;
• b. an input shaft bearingly supported in said frame;
• c. an output shaft bearingly supported in said frame;
• d. a flat circular disc mounted on one of said input and said output shafts and having on its face an odd number of pie shaped toothed segments upon each of which parallel teeth are defined running from the periphery towards the center of the disc in parallel relationship to a diameter of the disc bisecting the pie shaped toothed seegment, said pie shaped toothed segments being equally circumferentially spaced about the disc face to define an odd number of pie shaped blank segments therebetween such that there is always a blank segment directly diametrically opposite a toothed segment;
• e. first and second coaxially alligned shafts individually bearingly supported by said frame in a position over said face of said disc in alignment with a diameter of the disc when viewed in plan;
• f. first and second pinion gears mounted on said first and second coaxially aligned shafts respectively and keyed to the shafts for slidable movement along the shafts, said pinion gears being equally radially spaced outwardly from the center of the disc, one pinion gear being in threaded meshing engagement with a toothed segment whenever the other is out of engagement with any toothed segment as a result of the presence of a blank segment thereunder, by virtue of which there is continuous meshing engagement between selective ones of said pinion gears and said flat circular disc;
• g. means to adjust the radial distance of said pinion gears from the center of the disc to thereby adjust the ratio of the speed between the input and output shafts;
• h. and central gear means mounted on the other of said input and said output shafts and intercoupling the inner opposed ends of the said first and second coaxially aligned shafts which are rotatable in opposite directions about their common axis so that when said first and second pinion gears alternatively rotate in opposite directions said central gear means rotates continuously in one direction, said central gear means being disposed over the center of the face of said disc when viewed in plan;
• by virtue of all of which rotation of said input shaft effects rotation of said output shaft regardless of whether said pinion gears drive said disc or said disc drives said pinion gears.