Caterpillar Inc.

Michael W Krause

Willis E Windish

Kevin G Meyer

James Stephen Rice

Larry Wayne Carpenter

The transmission includes a housing, input and output shafts, and four planetary gear trains each having at least three members including a ring gear, at least one carrier, and a sun gear. The input and output shafts are is continuously interconnected with gear(s) and/or carrier(s). Links continuously interconnect the carrier(s) and/or gears between gear trains. The six torque-transmitting mechanisms are engagable in combinations of two to establish at least seven forward speed ratios and at least one reverse speed ratio between the input shaft and the output shaft.

Compact planetary transmission

A countershaft transmission provides at least three forward and three reverse speeds and includes a first countershaft having a second gear secured thereto, a third gear rotatable thereon, and a first clutch for connecting the third gear thereto. A second countershaft has a fourth gear secured thereto which is intermeshed with the second gear, a fifth gear rotatable thereon, a sixth gear rotatable thereon, a seventh gear secured thereto, a second clutch for connecting the fifth gear thereto, and a third clutch for connecting the sixth gear thereto. A first gear is adapted to drive one of the side-by-side third and fifth gears, and a third countershaft is disposed elevationally below them. The third countershaft has an eighth gear secured thereto which is intermeshed with the sixth gear. Ninth and tenth gears are rotatable on the third countershaft and are selectively connected thereto by a fourth clutch and a fifth clutch respectively. An input shaft (14) is connected for joint rotation with the first gear (118) and with another gear (258), a further gear (260) is rotatable on the first countershaft (22) and intermeshed with the another gear ( 258), and another clutch (262) is provided for connecting the further gear (260) to the first countershaft (22). The six rotating clutches are of the interleaved plate type, are hydraulically engaged and mechanically disengaged, and are generally internested between the walls of the housing for compactness. Up to eight forward and four reverse speeds can be obtained with but minor alterations.

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Manito, IL, United States of America

Michael W Krause