Deere + Company

Volker D Huckler

Vasile A Benedek

Dieter Nobis

Helmut Schafer

Michael Teich

Gordon L Marquart

Ralph Edwin Shirley

Peter D Wetrich

Uli Eckhardt

Heinz Stuhrmann

Hilmar S Ortlepp

Reinhard Schwarz

Eugen Sonns

A modular transmission is provided having a variety of flexible modules. These include very basic speed gearbox and range gearbox modules to which other modules can be added. The other modules can include a front wheel drive module, a supplemental reduction module, and an intermediate module. The intermediate module can include additional ranges and/or a creeper gear. The entire structure is highly flexible, and allows ready construction of a transmission to meet a particular customer's needs out of standard components which can be produced in mass quantities.

Modular transmission

A drive arrangement for a four wheel drive vehicle is equipped with a planetary gear set for driving the front wheels which can operate in either direct drive or with a speed increase and which is shifted according to the steering angle .beta. sensed at the front pair of wheels. To avoid an excessively high jump in speed during the transition from direct drive to the increased speed mode, the planetary gearset is gradually shifted, i.e., the planetary gear clutch and/or brake are allowed to slip in proportion to the steering angle .beta..

Drive arrangement for a four wheel drive vehicle

Disclosed herein is a support for supporting the load sensing bar of a draft control system. The support includes an L-shaped bracket which is adapted to have one leg attached to a vehicle and the other extending outwardly therefrom. The attached leg has a through opening with a spherical bearing therein through which the load sensing bar passes. A stop is carried on the other end of the outwardly projecting leg to limit bending of the bar. A clip is also carried by the outwardly extending leg and extends to a position where it will prevent the bar from sliding out of the bearing in the attached leg in the event the bar breaks.

Draft vehicle with load sensor and removable support

A vehicle, such as a tractor, has a main change-speed gear with an associated clutch and a load shift gear coupled to a selector rod. The load shift gear can be shifted under load between a normal position and an under-speed position which produces increased tractive effort by reducing the speed by about 20%. This load shift gear can be operated by the same lever as operates the main change speed gear. In order to prevent simultaneous operation of the main gear and the load change gear, with corresponding interference with the synchronization of the main gear, an interlock device is provided. The interlock device includes a bellows which is connected into the hydraulic circuit for the clutch and, when the clutch pedal is depressed, the bellows holds a plunger in interlocking engagement with one of two grooves in the selector rod which is mechanically coupled to the load change gear. In other embodiments, a mechanical linkage between the clutch pedal and the interlock device is provided.

Gear shift arrangement for a vehicle

A power take-off lever arrangement for a tractor is disclosed which prevents the inadvertent shifting of the PTO lever to an engaged position. The lever arrangement includes a support plate secured to the tractor which has a pin extending outward from it which engages in a slot formed in the manually shiftable lever. Secured to the pin is an arcuate sector which has a recess formed in its arcuate surface. A roller, which is attached to the underside of the lever, will engage the recess when the lever is in a disengaged position and will ride on the arcuate surface when the lever is in an engaged position. The lever arrangement further includes a spring which is attached between the lever and the support plate to urge the roller into the recess when the lever is in the disengaged position. The spring also exerts a limited force on the lever when the lever is in the engaged position but the force is insufficient to affect either the stability of the lever in the engaged position or the movement of the lever to the disengaged position when the hydraulic pressure indirectly acting on a PTO control valve falls below a predetermined value.

Power take-off lever arrangement for a tractor

A device detects when both of a pair of selector rods of a transmission are in neutral and actuates a switch part fixed in the top of a housing of the transmission to enable the engine ignition circuit. One of the rods carries a bracket on which is pivotally mounted a lever which has a lower arm which cooperates with a cam track on the other rod. When either selector rod moves in either direction out of neutral, a tip of the lower arm drops into one or the other of two recesses of the cam track and the lever drops. An upper arm of the lever then releases pressure on an operating button of the switch part.

Safety ignition interlock switch for vehicle transmission

A combination creeper gear and control system for a transmission is disclosed having a range selector gear followed by a change speed gear. The combination includes an engine-driven drive shaft connected through a creeper gear mechanism to an input shaft which extends into the transmission. The creeper mechanism includes a drive gear mounted on the drive shaft, a driven gear mounted on the input shaft and a lay shaft aligned parallel to both the drive shaft and the input shaft. The lay shaft supports a compound gear which includes a first and a second gear, wherein the first gear meshes with the drive gear and the second gear meshes with the driven gear. The combination further includes a synchronizer located between the drive gear and driven gear which is selectively engageable between a direct mode and a creep mode. In the direct mode, the drive shaft is directly connected to the input shaft, while in the creep mode, the drive shaft is connected to the input shaft by way of the compound gear. The creeper mechanism is activated by a selector control which consists of a first and a second shift rod and a locking pin movably positioned between the two shift rods. The first shift rod is associated with the creeper gear mechanism while the second shift rod is associated with the range selector gear. The locking pin controls the movement of the first and second shift rods such that the creep mode cannot be selected when the range selector gear is in a high speed range, but which can be selected in either a forward or reverse low-speed range.

Combination creeper gear and control system for a transmission

A tractor transmission is synchronized between four different speeds in each of two different high and low ranges and a reverse range. A top shaft coupled to be driven by the tractor engine has four different gears which are concentrically and rotatably spaced along the length thereof in constant mesh with a different one of a second group of four gears formed on the outer surface of a counter shaft. The counter shaft is selectively coupled to the top shaft by either of two pairs of synchronizers concentrically mounted on the top shaft between different pairs of the first four gears. High and low ranges are respectively provided by a first splined collar capable of coupling the counter shaft directly to a differential drive shaft and a second splined collar capable of coupling the differential drive shaft to the fourth gear disposed about the top shaft via a low range driven gear. Upon loss of hydraulic fluid pressure, a planetary gear arrangement coupled between the top shaft and the tractor engine is automatically returned from a direct drive condition to an underdrive condition by mechanical springs within two different clutches associated therewith. Similar safety features are provided in connection with the front wheel drive portion of the transmission.

Growing community of inventors

Mannheim, Germany

Volker D Huckler