Infinitely variable ratio transmission apparatus

A variable ratio transmission apparatus comprising:

• an input shaft;
• a driving pulley arrangement disposed on said input shaft;
• an output shaft;
• a driven pulley arrangement disposed on said output shaft;
• and
• a continuous chain coupling said driving pulley arrangement with said driven pulley arrangement, said chain including a first plurality of pins arranged into an outer first row, a second plurality of pins arranged into an inner second row and a repeating pattern of three pairs of overlapping, staggered and interconnected link plates, said link plates being interconnected to each other solely by said second plurality of pins and including a first pair of outside link plates, a second pair of intermediate link plates, and a third pair of inside link plates.

A variable ratio transmission apparatus comprising:

• an input shaft;
• a driving pulley arrangement disposed on said input shaft;
• an output shaft;
• a driven pulley arrangement disposed on said output shaft;
• and
• a continuous chain coupling said driving pulley arrangement with said driven pulley arrangement, said chain including:
• (a) a repeating pattern of three pairs of overlapping, staggered and interconnected link plates;
• (b) a first plurality of connecting pins arranged into an outer first row;
• (c) a second plurality of connecting pins arranged into an inner second row;
• (d) a plurality of U-shaped drive members attached to said link plates by said first plurality of connecting pins;
• and
• (e) said link plates being interconnected to each other solely by said second plurality of connecting pins and said three pairs of overlapping, staggered and interconnected link plates being arranged into a first pair of outside link plates, a second pair of intermediate link plates and a third pair of inside link plates.

A chain drive apparatus for use with variable ratio transmissions and related drive chains, said chain drive apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of repeating interconnected subassemblies wherein each subassembly includes:
• (a) three pairs of overlapping, staggered and interconnected link plates arranged into a first pair of outside link plates, a second pair of intermediate link plates and a third pair of inside link plates;
• (b) three connecting pins arranged into an outer row;
• (c) three connecting pins arranged into an inner row;
• and
• (d) three drive members attached to said link plates by connecting pins of said outer row.

A variable ratio transmission apparatus for converting an input torque at a first RPM to an output torque at a second RPM, said variable ratio transmission apparatus comprising:

• a frame housing including an input shaft and an output shaft;
• a pair of driving discs disposed on said input shaft;
• a pair of driven discs disposed on said output shaft;
• and
• a continuous length of chain extending around and between each pair of discs, said length of chain comprising:
• (a) a first row of spaced-apart connecting pins;
• (b) a second row of spaced-apart connecting pins, said first row and said second row of connecting pins having a substantially constant distance of separation, and the connecting pins of one row being substantially uniformly staggered relative to the connecting pins of the other row;
• (c) a plurality of link plates pinned together by said second plurality of connecting pins into said continuous length;
• and
• (d) a plurality of U-shaped drive members pinned to said link plates by means of pins of said first row, said U-shaped drive members adapted to extend between and be contiguous with adjacent pins of said second row, said adjacent pins of said second row being substantially equally spaced from and opposite sides of the pin of said first row which pins the particular U-shaped drive member to its corresponding link plates.