Machine element or mechanism – Gearing – Plural power paths to and/or from gearing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-14
2003-05-06
Parekh, Ankur (Department: 3681)
Machine element or mechanism
Gearing
Plural power paths to and/or from gearing
C180S233000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06557439
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving force distributing structure for four wheel drive vehicles distributing a driving force from an output shaft of a transmission to front and rear wheels, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
In automobiles, there are four wheel drive vehicles in which an output from an engine is transmitted to front and rear wheels (i.e., all wheels) thereof, and vehicles of this type are constructed such that the output from the engine is first in speed at a transmission and is then split to be transmitted to the front and rear wheels. Due to this, it is common practice to provide as a transmission, a driving force distributing structure for four-wheel drive vehicles having engine output distributing portions for front and rear wheel sides, respectively. For example, JP-A-5-58178 discloses a driving force distributing structure for four-wheel drive vehicles of this type. In this construction, a transmission is disposed to be joined to an output side of a transverse-mounted engine which is disposed to extend in a transverse direction of a vehicle, and two independent gear trains are provided which are adapted to mesh with an output gear disposed at a terminal end of the transmission, wherein one of the two gear trains is connected to the front wheels side and the other to the rear wheels side.
In the case of the above related driving force distributing structure for four-wheel drive vehicles, since there are provided two independent gear trains which mesh with the output gear disposed at the terminal end portion of the transmission, the terminal end portion of the transmission largely protrudes in an axial direction, and this causes a problem that the transmission is made large in size and heavy in weight. In addition, since the driving output is obtained from the output gear at the terminal end portion of the transmission for the front and rear wheels, there is also caused a problem that the driving output obtaining positions are largely restricted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made in view of the problems, and an object thereof is to provide a driving force distributing structure for a four wheel drive vehicle which can be made compact in size and light in weight. The other object of the invention is to provide a driving force distributing structure for a four wheel drive vehicle which can provide a high degree of freedom with respect to the driving force distributing position.
With a view to attaining those objects, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided in a transmission having transmission mechanisms (for example, a 1
st
speed transmission mechanism
11
, a 2
nd
speed transmission mechanism
12
, a 3
rd
speed transmission mechanism
13
and a reverse transmission mechanism
14
which will be described with reference to an embodiment) disposed between an input shaft (for example, a transmission input shaft
1
in the embodiment) and an output shaft (for example, a transmission output shaft
2
in the embodiment) which are disposed in parallel with each other, a driving force distributing structure for a four wheel drive vehicle for distributing a driving force from said output shaft for transmission to front and rear wheels of a vehicle, the driving force distributing structure for a four wheel drive vehicle having an intermediate gear (for example, an intermediate gear
32
for driving the rear wheels in the embodiment) relatively rotatably disposed on the input shaft, a first gear (for example, a front wheel side driving gear
3
a
in the embodiment) fixed to the output shaft and adapted to transmit the driving force to one of the front and rear wheels, a second gear (for example, a first gear
31
for driving the rear wheels) fixed to the output shaft and adapted to mesh with the intermediate gear, and a third gear (for example, a second gear
33
for driving rear wheels in the embodiment) disposed rotatably about a rotating shaft (for example, a rotating shaft
35
for driving the rear wheels in the embodiment) parallel with the input shaft and the output shaft and adapted to mesh with the intermediate gear so as to transmit the driving force to the other of the front and rear wheels.
According to the driving force distributing structure for a four wheel drive vehicle constructed as described above, although the driving force is distributed from the first gear fixed to the output shaft to one of the front and rear wheels, since the first gear is independent from the driving force distributing portion from which the driving force is distributed to the other of the front and rear wheels, the degree of freedom with respect to the disposing position of the first gear is increased, and the degree of freedom with respect to the position of the driving force distributing portion for one of the front and rear wheels is also increased. In addition, since the gear train is used for distributing the driving force to the other of the front and rear wheels which includes the second gear fixed to the output gear, the intermediate gear rotatably disposed on the input shaft and the third gear disposed on the rotating shaft parallel with the input and output shafts and adapted to mesh with the intermediate gear which are arranged in linear fashion, only an axial dimension is required for allowing for the gear train comprising the gears arranged in a linear fashion within the transmission, thereby making it possible to prevent the increase in dimension in the axial direction of the transmission. Furthermore, the position of the gear train comprising the linearly arranged gears can be adjusted in the axial direction within the transmission relatively easily, this helping increase the degree of freedom with respect to the position of the distributing portion of the driving force for the other of the front and rear wheels.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4450734 (1984-05-01), Makishima
patent: 4618022 (1986-10-01), Hayashi
patent: 5143167 (1992-09-01), Moriyama et al.
patent: 5188574 (1993-02-01), Echigo et al.
patent: 5348516 (1994-09-01), Shibata
patent: 5-58178 (1993-03-01), None
Hotta Takashi
Ohtani Tetsuya
Sanpe Tadayasu
Takemasa Nobuo
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Parekh Ankur
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