Patent ID: 6990759

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a body having an engine mounted therein, said body having a boom carried thereon, said boom being pivotally movable upwardly and downwardly; a ground engaging means drivedly connected to said engine, said ground engaging means for allowing said body to move along a surface of the earth; a material handling implement carried by said boom; a transmission cooperative with said engine and said ground engaging means, said transmission having a torque converter and a change speed gearbox, said torque converter having an input shaft drivably connected to said engine, said input shaft connected to an impeller, said torque converter having an output shaft drivably connected to said ground engaging means and connected to a turbine, said turbine and said impeller having a fluid path therebetween, said transmission having a reactor member and a fluid in said fluid path, said reactor member transmitting torque hydro-kinetically between said impeller and said turbine with said fluid, said transmission having a lock-up clutch means having an operative condition connecting said torque converter for direct drive without torque conversion between said input shaft and said output shaft, said lock-up clutch means having an inoperative condition permitting drive through said torque converter with torque conversion; and a fluid circuit having an inlet conduit to said torque converter and an exit conduit from said torque converter, said fluid circuit having a fluid therein which enters said torque converter by said inlet conduit and leaves said torque converter by said exit conduit during said inoperative condition of said lock-up clutch means, said fluid in said fluid circuit leaving said torque converter through said inlet conduit and entering said torque converter during said operative condition of said lock-up clutch.