Electric shift apparatus with manual override

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type including a mode select shaft having a free end accessible from outside of the transmission housing, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) an electric motor having a housing and an output shaft rotated in response to energization of said motor;
• (B) a speed reduction unit having a housing secured to said motor housing and having an output shaft driven at a reduced speed in response to rotation of said motor output shaft and having a free end positioned outside of said speed reduction unit housing;
• (C) means for mounting said motor and speed reduction unit on the transmission housing with said reduction unit output shaft coaxially aligned with the mode select shaft and the free ends of said shafts juxtaposed;
• (D) coacting coupling means on the free ends of said shafts operative to drive the mode select shaft in response to rotation of said reduction unit output shaft;
• (E) manual override means operative to move said speed reduction unit output shaft, and thereby the mode select shaft, independently of energization of said motor;
• and
• (F) visual means tracking the angular position of said reduction unit output shaft and operative to provide a visual indication of the position of the mode select shaft.

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type including a mode select member, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) a motor assembly including an electric motor including a worm gear output shaft and a speed reduction unit including a housing and a central shaft assembly mounted for rotation in said housing and including an output shaft at one end of said shaft assembly projecting out of said housing and a worm wheel mounted for rotation in said housing and drivingly engaging said worm gear, the other end of said shaft assembly being accessible from outside of said housing;
• (B) means for mounting said motor assembly on the transmission housing in proximity to the mode select member;
• (C) means for drivingly connecting said reduction unit output shaft to the mode select member so that the mode select member is moved in response to energization of said motor;
• and
• (D) manual override means operative to move said reduction unit output shaft and thereby the mode select member independently of energization of said motor and including means on said other end of said central shaft assembly for manually rotating said central shaft assembly;
• and
• (E) encoder means, including encoding indicia provided on one face of said worm wheel, operative to sense the shift position of the transmission and generate an encoder signal representative of the sensed shift position.

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type including a mode select member, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) a motor assembly including an electric motor and an output shaft rotated in response to energization of said motor;
• (B) means for mounting said motor assembly on the transmission housing in proximity to the mode select member;
• (C) means for drivingly connecting said output shaft to the mode select member so that the mode select member is moved in response to energization of said motor;
• (D) manual override means operative to move said output shaft, and thereby the mode select member, independently of energization of said motor;
• and
• (E) visual means tracking the angular position of said output shaft and operative to provide a visual indication of the position of the mode select member.

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type including a mode select member, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) a motor assembly including an electric motor including a worm gear output shaft and a speed reduction unit including a housing and a central shaft assembly mounted for rotation in said housing and including an output shaft at one end of said shaft assembly projecting out of said housing and a worm wheel mounted for rotation in said housing and drivingly engaging said worm gear, the other end of said shaft assembly being accessible from outside of said housing;
• (B) means for mounting said motor assembly on the transmission housing in proximity to the mode select member;
• (C) means for drivingly connecting said reduction unit output shaft to the mode select member so that the mode select member is moved in response to energization of said motor;
• (D) said reduction unit shaft assembly being mounted for axially movement in said housing;
• (E) said manual override means being further operative to move said reduction shaft assembly axially;
• and
• (F) said worm wheel being fixed to said central shaft assembly and moving into and out of driving engagement with said motor output shaft in response to axial movement of said reduction unit shaft assembly by said manual override means.

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type including a mode select member, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) a motor assembly including an electric motor including a worm gear output shaft and a speed reduction unit including a housing and a central shaft assembly mounted for rotation in said housing and including an output shaft at one end of said shaft assembly projecting out of said housing and a worm wheel mounted for rotation in said housing and drivingly engaging said worm gear, the other end of said shaft assembly being accessible from outside of said housing;
• (B) means for mounting said motor assembly on the transmission housing in proximity to the mode select member;
• (C) means for drivingly connecting said reduction unit output shaft to the mode select member so that the mode select member is moved in response to energization of said motor;
• (D) said reduction unit shaft assembly being mounted for axial movement in said housing;
• (E) said manual override means being further operative to move said reduction shaft assembly axially;
• and
• (F) said worm wheel being slidably mounted on said central shaft assembly and remaining in driving engagement with said motor output shaft upon axial movement of said central shaft assembly by said manual override means.

An electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission of the type having a mode select shaft to selectively shift the transmission between a plurality of shift positions, said apparatus comprising:

• (A) a power module adapted to be mounted on the housing of the transmission proximate the mode select shaft and including an electric motor assembly having an output shaft adapted to be drivingly connected to the mode select shaft;
• (B) a control module adapted to be mounted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle and including a plurality of mode select members accessible to the vehicle operator and corresponding respectively to the transmission shift positions, and generator means operative in response to operator actuation of each mode select member to generate an operator signal representative of the selected shift position;
• (C) means operative in response to receipt of an operator signal to energize said motor assembly in a sense to move the mode select shaft to a position corresponding to the operator signal;
• and
• (D) manual override means operative to move said output shaft and thereby the mode select shaft independently of energization of said motor.