Patent ID: 7186203

Claim:
A planetary gear type multistage transmission for vehicles, which is composed so that the transmission is provided with a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, transmits rotations of an input rotating member, which is positioned at the driving-force source side and is rotatable around a first axial center, to the second transmission portion on a second axial center parallel to the first axial center via the first transmission portion, and outputs the rotation from an output rotating member rotating around the second axial center; wherein the first transmission portion transmits rotations of the input rotating member to the second transmission portion via a first intermediate output path and a second intermediate output path; the second transmission portion is provided with three planetary gear sets of a first planetary gear set, a second planetary gear set and a third planetary gear set, which are disposed one after another to be concentric with the second axial center, wherein some of five rotary elements are composed of sun gears, carriers and ring gears of the three planetary gear sets connected to each other, the five rotary elements are selectively connected to any one of a first driven member composing the first intermediate output path at the second axial center side, a second driven member composing the second intermediate output path at the second axial center side and a non-rotating member via clutches and brakes; a rotational speed of the rotary motion transmitted by the second intermediate output path is lower than a rotational speed of the rotary motion transmitted by the first intermediate output path; a first rotary element of the five rotary elements is selectively connected to the second driven member via a second clutch, and is selectively connected to said non-rotating member via a first brake; a second rotary element of the five rotary elements is selectively connected to the first driven member via a third clutch; a third rotary element of the five rotary elements is selectively connected to non-rotating member via a third brake; a fourth rotary element of the five rotary elements is connected to the output rotating member; and a fifth rotary element of the five rotary elements is selectively connected to the second driven member via a first clutch, and further, via a fourth clutch, the third rotary element is selectively connected to the first driven member, or the third rotary element is selectively connected to the fifth rotary element, or the fifth rotary element is selectively connected to the first driven member, or the first rotary element is selectively connected to the first driven member, wherein at least seven forward speed transmission stages are established by selectively engaging and disengaging the clutches and brakes.