Agricultural tractor transmission
AssigneeCaterpillar Tractor Co.
InventorElmer R. Crabb
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle transmission particularly suitable for an agricultural tractor provides a large number of drive ranges by combining manual selection of any of several speed ranges while the vehicle is stopped with power shifting being available while the vehicle is in motion. The arrangement of the transmission allows the input shaft to be located at the top of the housing, with a plurality of shafts carrying the shift assemblies located immediately below the input shaft. The output shaft is positioned in the lower portion of the housing providing output torque at both ends of the housing, thereby eliminating the need for a transfer case normally required in interconnecting a transmission to both the front and rear wheels of the vehicle.
Claims9
A transmission comprising:
- a housing;
- an input shaft rotatably mounted in the upper portion of said housing;
- an output shaft rotatably mounted in said housing in substantially parallel relationship to said input shaft and spatially removed therefrom, said output shaft extending outwardly from the lower portion of said housing at opposite ends thereof;
- first and second drive gears drivingly mounted on said input shaft;
- first and second intermediate shafts rotatably mounted in substantially parallel relation to said input shaft and between said input shaft and said output shaft;
- first and second power shift gears respectively intermeshing with the first and second drive gears, and rotatably mounted on the first intermediate drive shaft;
- third and fourth power shift gears respectively intermeshing with the first and second drive gears, and rotatably mounted on the second intermediate drive shaft;
- clutch means operable for selectively engaging each one of the plurality of intermediate drive gears with its respective intermediate shaft;
- first and second spur gears each drivingly mounted respectively on said first and second intermediate shaft;
- a transfer shaft rotatably mounted in said housing in a substantially parallel relation to said input shaft;
- a cluster gear rotatably mounted on said transfer shaft and driven by said first and second spur gears;
- a plurality of range gears rotatably mounted on said transfer shaft;
- a countershaft rotatably mounted in said housing in substantially parallel relation to said input shaft;
- a countershaft drive gear drivingly mounted on said countershaft and drivingly engaging said cluster gear;
- a plurality of countershaft spur gears drivingly mounted on said countershaft and each engaging a range gear;
- a plurality of drive engagement means operable for selectively drivingly connecting said range gears to said transfer shaft;
- transfer gear means interconnecting said transfer shaft with said output shaft for driving said output shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.