Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited

Soichi Kawakami

Hideki Ito

Hiroshi Saito

A variable speed power transmission apparatus having an epicycle reduction gear device that has planetary gears whose shafts are supported at equal intervals circumferentially thereof by carriers fixed to an output shaft thereof. The planetary gears are meshed between external teeth of a sun gear fixed to an input shaft connected to a drive source and internal teeth of a ring gear. The transmission apparatus also includes a variable speed hydraulic driver system that is driven by oil pressure generated by the drive source in such a way as to be variably and reversibly rotated by the oil pressure. An output shaft of the variable speed oil pressure driver system is connected to the ring gear in an interlocking relation to thereby cause forward rotation, reverse rotation or stoppage of the ring gear by the variable speed hydraulic driver system. Thus, the speed of the ring gear can be changed in a non-step manner. Since the invention has been constructed as mentioned above, the invention makes it possible to obtain a variable speed power transmission apparatus which enables highly efficient non-step change in the rotation speed thereof over a wide range without increased size and cost of the apparatus.

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Komaki, Japan

Soichi Kawakami