Cone selector and associated transmission assembly

A transmission assembly having an input, an output and spaced sets of gears, each set of gears comprising gears constantly in mesh for selectively coupling the input to the output in predetermined ratio of input to output according to gear selection, at least one of said sets of gears having a free rotating gear in mesh with a fixed gear, the free rotating gear having a multi-cone gear selector comprising:

• a female cone body having a first cone surface;
• a male cone body adjacent said female cone body and having a second cone surface;
• a driven cone having a third cone surface;
• and
• a driving cone having a fourth cone surface,
• wherein the third cone surface is located between the fourth cone surface and the first cone surface,
• wherein the male cone body is axially moveable against a bias to cause cone surfaces of said driven cone, said driving cone, said male cone body and said female cone body to engage and thereby progressively engage the cone surfaces to transfer input power from the input to the output through the cone surfaces, and
• wherein the input and output are asynchronous at the time of engagement of said cone surfaces,
• said driving cone comprising a rigid non-deformable conical body,
• said driven cone comprising a rigid non-deformable conical body,
• said driving cone and said driven cone being located between the female and male cone bodies, all the cone bodies being mounted concentrically and being axially relatively moveable into and out of engagement while maintaining concentricity, each of the driven and driving cones having respective stops limiting axial movement and respective bias means urging the driven and driving cones toward said stops.