Patent ID: 7641580

Claim:
A transmission for location between a drive shaft and a wheel driving shaft of an engine, comprising: a belt-controlled variable-speed drive unit with a speed variation mechanism; at least one progressive clutch device with an actuator, the at least one progressive-type clutch device being in a disengaged position in the absence of any stress; and a control mechanism common to clutch device and to the variable-speed drive unit, wherein control mechanism i) in a first step, acts on the actuator of the at least one clutch device that is in the disengaged position in the absence of any stress of the control mechanism to pass from the disengaged position of zero speed to an engaged position corresponding to a minimum speed of operation of the variable-speed drive unit, and ii) in a second step subsequent to the first step, acts on the speed variation mechanism of the variable-speed drive unit to regulate a desired speed of an engine equipped with such the variable-speed drive unit; and at least one reverser of the direction of movement of the engine controlled by the control mechanism common to the at least one clutch device and to the variable-speed drive unit.