Patent ID: 7282002

Claim:
A belt for a continuously variable transmission, comprising endless rings and a plurality of plate-like elements, which are placed adjacent to one another and slidably on said rings; each of said elements comprising: a body portion, by which each element comes into contact with a pulley of said continuously variable transmission; a head portion, which is located above said body portion; a neck portion, which has a width narrower than said body portion and said head portion, and which connects said body portion and said head portion; saddle portions; which are provided, respectively, at right and left upper ends of said body portion; ear portions, which are provided, respectively, at right and left sides of said head portion, facing said saddle portions; wherein said rings are accommodated in right and left ring-accommodating spaces, respectively, each ring-accommodating space being defined by an upper end of said saddle portion, a side end of said neck portion and a lower end of said ear portion, so that each ring is disposed on said saddle portion; a first recess is provided at each upper innermost part of said saddle portions such that said first recess is continuous to a corresponding lower side end of said neck portion; a second recess is provided at each lower innermost part of said ear portions such that said second recess is continuous to a corresponding upper side end of said neck portion; and at least one of said first and second recesses includes a compound arc figure defined by at least three sequential arcs, each arc having a different radius than the others.