Patent ID: 7047840

Claim:
A power transmission apparatus for an engine of a vehicle which includes a starting clutch for smoothly connecting rotation of a crankshaft to a transmission upon starting of said vehicle, a hydrostatic continuously variable transmission for performing speed change depending upon a capacity difference between a swash plate hydraulic pump and a swash plate hydraulic motor to transmit rotation of said crankshaft at a reduced speed to a driving wheel, and a speed change driving member for moving a speed changing driving shaft back and forth to change an angle of the swash plate of said swash plate hydraulic motor, wherein said starting clutch is a torque converter, and wherein said crankshaft is disposed in a longitudinal direction of said vehicle, with an axial line of a cylinder block being disposed in a substantially vertical direction, and wherein an axis of said hydrostatic continuously variable transmission is set to a position higher than that of an axis of said crankshaft while an axis of said speed change driving shaft is set to a position higher than the axis of the hydrostatic continuously variable transmission and the axis of said speed change driving shaft is disposed inside of an acute angle defined by a line segment passing through the axis of said hydrostatic continuously variable transmission and the axis of said crankshaft and the axial line of said cylinder block.