Patent ID: 8142323

Claim:
A continuously variable transmission (CVT) comprising a toroidal-race continuously variable ratio device, a planetary gear mechanism, a reversing gear mechanism, and a low/high regime change mechanism, the toroidal-race continuously variable ratio device having a rotary input and a rotary output, the rotary input of the toroidal-race continuously ratio device being drivably coupled to an input shaft of the CVT, characterised in that: the planetary gear mechanism comprises two trains of planetary gears and four external coupling elements, namely a first element, a second element, a third element and a fourth element, the first element is drivably coupled to the input shaft so that its rotation is determined by that of the input shaft, and the second element is drivably coupled to the rotary output of the toroidal-race continuously variable ratio device so that its rotation is determined by the toroidal-race continuously variable ratio device's output speed and results from a reversal of the rotational direction of the input shaft of the CVT and a continuously variable speed change produced by the toroidal-race continuously variable ratio device, in a low regime mediated by the low/high regime change mechanism, the third element is drivingly coupled to an output shaft of the CVT, the rotation of the third element being reversed by means of the reversing gear mechanism, and in a high regime mediated by the low/high regime change mechanism, the fourth element is drivingly coupled to the output shaft of the CVT.