Gear-shifting jaw clutch for speed-changing vehicular transmission

In a transmission including a shaft, a rotary member freely rotatable about the axis of said shaft, said member being provided with a set of jaw teeth, a clutch on said shaft operable to couple said member with said shaft, said clutch having a central body secured to said shaft and an annular tooth carrier nonrotatable on said body but axially shiftable thereon for selective engagement with said jaw teeth, and actuating means for so shifting said tooth carrier,

• the improvement wherein said clutch is provided with a blocking ring coaxial with said tooth carrier and interposed between the latter and said member, said blocking ring being carried on said body with freedom of limited relative angular displacement by frictional contact with said member between two extreme positions in which said blocking ring prevents engagement of said tooth carrier with said jaw teeth, said blocking ring being frictionally entrainable by said member into a nonblocking intermediate angular position facilitating said engagement upon a passage of said member and said body through a condition of synchronous rotation;
• said tooth carrier being provided with radially movable weight means mounted for co-operation with coacting formations on said blocking ring, at shaft speeds less than a predetermined limit beyond which said weight means is centrifugally moved out of alignment with said coacting formations, to rotate said blocking ring into said intermediate position.