Lubrication system for automotive transmission pocket bearing

In a lubricating system for delivering a lubricant to a pocket bearing adjacent the forward end of an elongated transmission assembly receiving the rearward end of an engine power output shaft, the rearward end of the engine power output shaft being formed with an internal pocket adjacent the forward end of the transmission assembly, a power receiving shaft in the transmission assembly having a forward end projecting into the internal pocket, and bearing means disposed in the internal pocket between the rearward end of the engine output shaft and the power receiving shaft end of the transmission assembly, the improvement of an arrangement for lubricating the bearing means in the internal pocket when the engine output shaft is inclined at least to a position in which the engine is higher than the internal pocket and the bearing means therein, the improvement comprising:

• (a) a lubricant retaining cavity in the rearward end of the elongated transmission assembly, said cavity being separated from the location of the internal pocket enclosing the end of the engine output shaft;
• (b) lubricant transfer means interconnecting the separated lubricant retaining cavity in the rearward end of the transmission assembly with the internal pocket;
• and
• (c) lubricant pumping means in the lubricant retaining cavity which is operable in response to operation of the transmission assembly to pump lubricant from the lubricant retaining cavity into the lubricant interconnecting means to supply lubricant to the bearing means disposed in the internal pocket under transmission operating conditions.