Patent ID: 7105968

Claim:
A magnetic transmission, comprising: a plurality of magnetic gears arranged to form at least two non-simultaneously coupled gear trains; at least two of the plurality of magnetic gears being non-coaxial; and at least one of the non-coaxial magnetic gears being moveable relative to the other magnetic gears to thereby motionally change coupling between the at least two non-simultaneously coupled gear trains; wherein first and second non-coaxial gears of the at least two of the plurality of magnetic gears are operatively supported on substantially parallel axes, wherein the first non-coaxial gear or the second non-coaxial gear comprises the at least one of the non-coaxial magnetic gears; wherein the first non-coaxial gear comprises at least a first permanent magnetic dipole; wherein the second non-coaxial gear comprises at least a second permanent magnetic dipole; wherein the at least the first permanent magnetic dipole and the at least the second permanent magnetic dipole are arranged so that a polar attraction between the at least the first permanent magnetic dipole and the at least the second permanent magnetic dipole is employable to transmit rotational motion between the first and second non-coaxial gears.