Patent ID: 8087505

Claim:
A power unit for a vehicle, the power unit comprising: a clutch having a slide shaft with a longitudinal axis that extends in a vehicle crosswise direction, the clutch being disengaged and engaged by moving the slide shaft along its longitudinal axis; a clutch actuator with a rotatable drive shaft that extends in a direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis; and a drive force transmission mechanism configured to transmit the drive force of the clutch actuator to the slide shaft, the drive force transmission mechanism comprising: a worm shaft coupled to the rotatable drive shaft; a first solid of revolution having a worm wheel portion which engages the worm shaft and rotates about an axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the slide shaft in accordance with rotation of the worm shaft; a second solid of revolution which rotates about an axis of rotation coincident with the longitudinal axis of the slide shaft in accordance with rotation of the first solid of revolution; and a force direction converting mechanism which converts torque from the second solid of revolution into a force acting in the axial direction of the slide shaft and which moves the slide shaft in the axial direction in accordance with rotation of the second solid of revolution.