Patent ID: 7549847

Claim:
A portable bulk transfer pump assembly comprising: a portable housing; and a pumping assembly carried by said housing, said pumping assembly including a pump adapted to be operated at varying speeds and a drive assembly drivingly coupled to said pump, said pump including a rotatable driven shaft, said drive assembly being selectively adjustable to operate the pump at varying speeds and including a motor having a rotatable drive shaft and a variable speed transmission drivingly coupling the drive shaft to the driven shaft, said transmission including at least one rotatable transmission shaft and a plurality of transmission gears, at least one of the gears being shiftable relative to the transmission shaft between a first position wherein the transmission shaft rotates at a first speed and a second position wherein the transmission shaft rotates at a second speed, said first and second speeds being different, said at least one rotatable transmission shaft comprising an input shaft coupled to the drive shaft, said plurality of transmission gears including at least a first and a second drive gear spaced along the transmission shaft, said transmission further including a rotatable output shaft coupled to the driven shaft, said plurality of transmission gears including at least a first and a second driven gear spaced along the output shaft, said at least one of the gears comprising the first driven gear, said first and second driven gears being coupled relative to each other so that the second driven gear is shiftable with the first driven gear relative to the input shaft, said first drive gear and said first driven gear intermeshing when the first driven gear is in the first position, said second drive gear and said second driven gear intermeshing when the first driven gear is in the second position, said transmission further including a gear bumper for selective rotation of at least one of said input and output shafts to facilitate intermeshing between the corresponding drive and driven gears, said gear bumper including an alignment gear fixed relative to the output shaft, said gear bumper further including a spring biased rotatable shaft presenting opposed ends and a bumper gear fixed relative to one of said ends, said spring biased shaft being shiftable into and out of an alignment position wherein the alignment and bumper gears intermesh.