Compact integrated transaxle
AssigneeSauer Inc.
InventorAlan W. Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compact integrated transaxle has a two-piece transaxle casing for rotatably mounting a pair of oppositely extending axles along a peripheral seam formed between an upper casing part and a lower casing part. A hydrostatic transmission is also mounted in the transaxle casing and has a center section positionable in the transaxle casing with a pair of perpendicular faces each mounting a hydraulic displacement unit. One of the center section faces defines a hydraulic pump mounting surface and is offset from the plane defined by the peripheral seam. A counter-rotating intermediate shaft is interposed between an output shaft on one of the hydraulic units and the axles and is journalled within the transaxle casing offset from the plane defined by the peripheral seam.
Claims10
An integrated hydrostatic transaxle comprising:
- a transaxle casing rotatably mounting a pair of oppositely extending axles along a substantially horizontal peripheral seam formed between a first casing part and a second casing part;
- a hydraulic pump;
- a hydraulic motor having an associated output shaft;
- a center section positionable in the casing and having first and second faces, the first face being a pump mounting face for mounting the hydraulic pump within the transaxle casing and the second face being a motor mounting face for mounting the hydraulic motor within the transaxle casing with the output shaft extending along the peripheral seam;
- and
- an intermediate shaft interposed between the output shaft and the axles, the intermediate shaft being journalled in the transaxle casing offset from a plane defined by the peripheral seam and substantially parallel to the pump mounting face, the pump mounting face being offset from a plane defined by the peripheral seam.
An integrated hydrostatic transaxle comprising:
- a transaxle casing including a first casing part and a second casing part joined along a substantially planar and horizontal peripheral seam formed therebetween, the transaxle casing rotatably mounting a pair of oppositely extending axles;
- a hydraulic pump;
- a hydraulic motor having an associated output shaft and being mounted within the transaxle casing;
- and
- a pump mounting surface in the transaxle casing and offset from the plane defined by the peripheral seam for mounting the hydraulic pump within one of the first or the second casing parts.
An integrated hydrostatic transaxle having a two-piece transaxle casing for mounting a hydrostatic transmission and a pair of oppositely-extending differentially-connected axles between a first casing part and a second casing part, the hydrostatic transmission comprising:
- a hydraulic pump;
- a hydraulic motor having an associated output shaft, the output shaft and the axles extending along a substantially horizontal peripheral seam formed between the first casing part and the second casing part;
- a one-piece center section positionable in the casing and having first and second faces generally at right angles to each other, the first face being a pump mounting face for mounting the hydraulic pump and the second face being a motor mounting face for mounting the hydraulic motor, the pump mounting face being offset from the plane defined by the peripheral seam;
- and
- an intermediate shaft interposed between the output shaft and the axles, the intermediate shaft being offset from the plane defined by the peripheral seam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.