Patent ID: 7597638

Claim:
A transmission comprising: an input shaft; an input cog assembly mounted to the input shaft, the input cog assembly including a plurality of varying diameter input cogs arranged sequentially; an output shaft disposed substantially parallel to the input shaft; an input device concentric with the output shaft and connected to the input shaft with a first flexible torque-transmitting element: an output device connected to the output shaft with a second flexible torque-transmitting element; an output cog assembly mounted to the output shaft, the output cog assembly including a plurality of varying diameter output cogs arranged sequentially; a chain linking one of the plurality of the input cogs and one of the plurality of output cogs disposed opposite the one of plurality of input cogs for transmitting power from the input cog assembly to the output cog assembly, the chain, in operation, having a high-tension side and a low-tension side; and a derailleur engageable with the low-tension side of the chain to laterally urge the chain from a current output cog to a destination output cog, the input and output cog assemblies disposed in close proximity to each other and in a complementary arrangement relative to each other with the plurality of input cogs substantially aligned with the plurality of output cogs in a paired arrangement such that in operation the high-tension side of the chain automatically shifts to the input cog directly opposite the destination output cog after the derailleur laterally displaces the chain from the current output cog to the destination output cog.