Patent ID: 7198142

Claim:
A converter for transmitting a drive force, comprising: an input shaft of said converter being connectable with a rotation drive for being driven to rotate by said rotation drive; an output shaft of said converter for being rotated; and the converter being connected between the input shaft and the output shaft enabling the rotation received at the input shaft to be transmitted to the output shaft to rotate the output shaft, the converter further comprising: a pump wheel connected with the input shaft to be rotated by the input shaft; a turbine wheel connected with the output shaft for rotating the output shaft; the pump and turbine wheels being so shaped as to together define a chamber for receiving a fluid for acting on vanes in the chamber for transmission of rotation between the input shaft and the output shaft, the chamber being selectively fillable and emptyable for respectively causing the transmission of rotation between the pump and turbine wheels and discontinuing the transmission of rotation through the converter; a clutch connected between the input shaft and the output shaft and connected in parallel with the converter, whereby fluid in the converter can transmit rotation between the input shaft and the output shaft via the converter and the clutch can be engaged for transmitting rotation between the input shaft and the output shaft; the clutch is a switchable clutch with a first engageable clutch part firmly seated on the input shaft to rotate with the input shaft and a second clutch part firmly seated on the output shaft to rotate with the output shaft, such that engagement of the first and second parts of the clutch drives the output shaft to rotate due to rotation of the input shaft, and the clutch is switchable between engagement of the first and second parts thereof and disengagement of the first and second parts thereof; wherein the clutch is a toothed clutch, with each clutch part having respective meshable teeth shaped and positioned for meshing with the teeth of the other clutch part when the clutch parts are in the engaged position; wherein one of said clutch parts is a pinion secured at its center of rotation with outwardly facing teeth on a respective one of said shafts for rotation with said one shaft, while the other of said clutch parts is an internal gear secured at its center of rotation with inwardly facing teeth on the other of said shafts for rotation with said other shaft.