Title of Invention

A MANUAL GEAR-SHIFTING SYSTEM, IN AN AGRICULTURAL OR INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a manual gear-shifting system in an agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor, and more particularly to the tractor transmission side gear-shifting system, wherein entire gear-shifting system is located either on left & / or right side of the operating personnel, thereby improving sitting & operational comfort drastically by ensuring front free space amd minimizing modifications & relocation of various affected components thereby minimizing development time and cost.

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 [39 OF 1970] COMPLETE SPECIFICATION [SEE SECTION 10 & RULE 13] 1 TITLE A MANUAL GEAR-SHIFTING SYSTEM, IN AN AGRICULTURAL OR INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE. APPLICANT NAME ADDRESS MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD. 1, GATEWAY BUILDING, APOLLO BUNDER, MUMBAI 400001 NATIONALITY INDIA The following specification particularly describes the nature of the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:- l Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a manual gear-shifting system, in an agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor, and more particularly to the tractor transmission side gear-shifting system, wherein entire gear-shifting system is located either on left & / or right side of the operating personnel thereby improves sitting & operational comfort drastically and avails's front free space. Provision of this manual gear-shifting system, over existing tractor (transmission) layout having center gear-shifting system minimizes modifications & relocation of various affected components, which ultimately minimizes development time and cost. Background of the Invention In the tractor transmission gear-shifting system, conventionally it has been practiced to provide gear-shifting system at centrally upward of the transmission housing i.e. in front and between the limbs of the driving personnel. In this system the gear select lever, shifter housing & other gear shifting components projected upward from the top side of the transmission housing, thus creating problems to the operating personnel for getting on & off the tractor (operator's seat), operating desired gear both from speed and range section, front free space and so on. Hence to overcome above mentioned problems relates to center gear-shifting system various tractor manufacturers are switching over from center gear-shifting system to side gear-shifting system. The design practiced for side gear-shifting system both for speed and range transmission section comprises gear select lever, shifter housing, cam link actuating shaft, actuating pin etc. This entire shifting unit is located either on left and / or right side of the transmission housing, therefore comparing to the conventional center gear-shifting system the front free space, which were 2 occupied by center shifting components becomes free to improve sitting and operational comfort of the driving personnel. Implementation of this system in existing tractor (transmission) layout requires various modifications and relocation of affected components for suitable ergonomics & aesthetic related to gear select lever & driving personnel (operator seat) position, also design requires sufficient free space on left and / or right side of the transmission housing. On other part, in this system the actuating pin / actuating shaft moves co-axially with the slots provided on shifter block or rail, which calls for co-axial location of the shifter housing. Hence lots of developments time and cost engages for implementing such available side gear-shifting system for existing tractor (transmission) layout. Also it has already been proposed in Japanese patent specification no. JP 61188233, in the name of Yanmar diesel engine co. ltd., in which the gear select lever, number of connecting linkages, actuating shaft and other gear-shifting components were placed on the side of the transmission housing of an agricultural tractor so as to eliminate upward projection of the center gear-shifting system from transmission housing, thereby providing a flat desk and widening front free space to be occupied by the operating personnel for easing the getting on and off the tractor. However, the prior proposal improves the operating personnel comforts, whereas the rigidity, reliability, operational accuracy and performance of the shifting system where unsolved. As number of connecting linkages are adopted as a part of this side gear-shifting system, which has more free play and floats which further increases as vehicle operation goes on and ultimately results in excess wear of synchronizes / coupling provided in the power train (transmission gear box), which further results in rough / noisy gear-shifting operation, increase maintenance cost and reduces service life of the power train. 3 Another publication is made in Europe patent specification no. EP 0711677 by New Holland Italia Spa, in which the side gear-shifting system for an orchard (narrowly confined) tractor is designed to facilitate minimum tractor width and avoid interface of gear select lever to the driving personnel limbs in case of forward, sideways and backward movement of the gear select levers. In this mechanism an additional pivot is provided at the bottom end of gear select lever to facilitate outwardly curved paths of gear select lever, which skirt the driver space. However the invention improves the shifting path (pattern) of gear select lever whereas the problem of changeover from center gear-shifting system to side gear-shifting system as mentioned above is still unsolved. Therefore it is a requirement of existing agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor or similar vehicle having a central gear-shifting system to provide a side gear-shifting system with least modifications & relocation of various affected components, which ultimately results in minimum development time and cost & also with improved features over available side gear shifting system. Summary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome current problems of redesigning central-gear shifting system to side gear-shifting system on an agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor by providing a manual gear-shifting system functioning in combination with an improved (available) side gear-shifting system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a manual gear-shifting system , which can be implementable in the existing tractor (transmission) layout with least modifications & relocation of various tractor components, which will save development time and cost. 4 Another object of the present invention is to provide a manual side gear-shifting system, which can be located at any suitable place in the tractor (transmission) layout thereby providing design flexibility, avoiding packing, other ergonomics & aesthetic problems related to affected components. Another object of the presents invention is to increase the scope of leverage ratio adjustments, number of gear selection through common shifting systems, hence providing userfriendly design which is as rigid, reliable & performance oriented as in case of available side gear-shifting systems. Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 shows isometric views of an available side gear-shifting system on tractor skid (layout). Figure 2 shows schematic views of an available side gear-shifting system as illustrated in figure 1. Figure 3 shows isometric views of a manual side gear-shifting system according to the present invention. Figure 4 shows schematic views of a manual side gear-shifting system as illustrated in figure 3. Figure 5 shows isometric views of a manual side gear-shifting system according to the present invention on tractor skid (layout). Detailed description of the preferred embodiments Figure 1 & 2 shows the available side gear-shifting system generally used in an agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor. This mechanism (1) is located either on left or right side of the transmission housing (2) to avail gear select lever (3) on left or right side of the driving personnel, which improves the operating comfort of manual gear-shifting system of speed and / or range 5 transmission section. In this mechanism (1) an actuating pin (4) is clubbed with actuating shaft (5). Any directional motion coming from gear select lever (3) for changing over to the desired gear is forwarded to the shifter blocks (26) and / or rails (27) and subsequently to gear shifting forks (35) as shown in figure 3 & 4 through actuating pin (4). Actuating shaft (5) is supported in shifter housing (6) for balancing and rigidity of this side gear-shifting mechanism (1). Gear select lever (3) is pivoted at (7) in shifter housing (6) to facilitate multidirectional i.e. forward, backward, sideward motion transfer to actuating pin (4) through cam link (8) & actuating shaft (5). The hand operated end (9) of gear select lever (3) is provided with suitable knob (10) for ease in operation and cam link operated end (11) is with ball or similar design (12), which is located in cam link (8). The gear select lever (3) and actuating shaft (5) are connected to each other by means of cam link (8). This entire assembly is housed & supported in shifter housing (6) by providing various joining, frictional resistance means like, bolts (14), bushes (13), springs (15), spaces (16) in-between, which are normally used in gear shifting system to improve assembling, dismantling & maintenance of the system, avoid excess wear of meting components & for smooth functioning of the system. The shifter housing (6) is ideally located on either left or right side of the transmission (power train) housing (2) i.e. co-axial with the movement of actuating pin (4) / actuating shaft (5) in slots of the shifter block (26) & / or rail (27). During the operation of this available side-gear shifting system (1) for the selection of desired gear either from speed & / or range transmission section or to ensure neutral position of the tractor, a gear select lever (3) is operated in forward, backward and sideward direction through lever knob (10). When the gear select lever (3) operated in sideward direction the actuating pin (4) freely moves symmetrically in shifter block (26) & / or rail (27) slots as shown in figure 3 6 & 4, which ensures neutral position of the vehicle. Whereas when gear select lever (3) operated in forward or backward direction in combination with sideward movement causing actuating shaft (5) and actuating pin (4) rotate in desired (linear followed by clockwise or anti-clockwise) direction, which further operates shifter blocks / rails and fork to engage desired gear pair from the vehicle transmission system (power train). Hence according to the available side gear-shifting system (1) a shifter housing (6) needs to be located on left or right side of the transmission housing (2), i.e. exactly co-axial to the shifter block (26) & / or rail (27) slots, which creating positioning, packaging, various ergonomics & aesthetics problems while redesigning center gear-shifting system to side gear-shifting system of an existing tractor (transmission) layout & subsequently calls for entire modifications & relocation of affected tractor components. In the present invention as shown in figure 3, 4 & 5, the above mention problems of redesigning center gear-shifting to side with improved performance is solved by improving available side gear-shifting system with addition of a secondary gear-shifting mechanism (32), which is functioning in combination with an improved (available) side gear-shifting mechanism (31) (hereafter termed as "primary gear-shifting system"). The primary gear-shifting mechanism (31) comprising same as available side gear-shifting system (1) except free end of an actuating pin (4) with earlier cam profile (15) as shown in figure 2 is redesigned to ball or similar design (22). The secondary gear-shifting mechanism (32) comprising socket link (23), second actuating shaft (24), second actuating pin (25) and transmission or rail or any other support (36). One end of second actuating shaft (24) is clubbed with second actuating pin (25), which is designed to operate shifter blocks (26) / rails (27) projected either from top or side of the 7 powertrain mechanism (not shown) and other end of this shaft is fix to the socket link (23), which is being operated by ball or similar design (22) provided at the free end of actuating pin (4). The second actuating shaft (24) is supported in housing (36) for balancing and rigidity of secondary gear-shifting mechanism (32) & positioned co-axial with the slots of shifter block (26) or rail (27). The free end (28) of the socket link (23) is provided with hollow sphere or similar design to facilitated ball and socket joint (33) in between primary (31) and secondary (32) gear-shifting mechanism. According to the further embodiments of an invented side gear-shifting system (30) a gear, sector or similar type of joints can be replace by ball & socket design (33) depending upon the constructional & operational requirements & to enhance gear shifting performances. Hence a ball & socket, gear, sector or other similar joint (33) is provided in between two individual mechanism (31 & 32) helps in leverage ratio adjustment, as more scope involved in dimensioning added components design. In addition to this, more than four numbers of gears shifting can be achieved through this manual side gear-shifting system (30). During the operation of this manual side gear-shifting system (30), when gear select lever (3) operated in forward, backward and sideward direction for the selection of desired gear or to ensure neutral position, cause linear or rotational (clockwise or anti clockwise) movement of second actuating pin (25). The first actuating pin (4) from primary gear-shifting mechanism (31) operates socket link (23), through its ball or similar design (22), which further transfers these linear and rotary movements received from gear select lever (3) through second actuating shaft (24) to second actuating pin (25) of secondary gear-shifting 8 mechanism (32). As the ball and socket, gear, sector or similar joint (33) is provided in between primary and secondary gear-shifting mechanism and the second actuating shaft (24) supported at transmission or rail housing support (36), the desired gear-shifting operation is performed without any disturbance just as in case of available side gear-shifting system (1) as explained with reference to figure 1 & 2. Hence with this invented system (30), only secondary gear-shifting mechanism (32), which is smaller in size, needs to be located co-axially on left or right side of the transmission housing (2), whereas rest of the primary gear-shifting mechanism (31) can be located anywhere around the 360° and offset to the second actuating shaft (24) as shown in figure 3 & 5, wherever sufficient free space for locating shifter housing (6) is available. This side gear shifting system can also solve other packing, ergonomic and aesthetic related problems. Therefore reduces or eliminates various problems occurred while redesigned center gear-shifting to side gear-shifting or designing entirely new gear shifting system packaging. Thus suggested gear-shifting system (30) can be implemented easily with least development time and cost in existing tractor (transmission) layout without major modification and relocation of various tractor components. As various changes could be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 9 We claim: 1. A manual gear-shifting system, in an agricultural or industrial vehicle (30) comprising of an improved (primary) side gear shifting mechanism (31) and secondary gear shifting mechanism (32). 2. An improved (primary) side gear shifting mechanism (31) of a manual gear-shifting system (30), in an agricultural or industrial vehicle as claimed in claim (1) comprising : - a shifter housing (6); - a gear select lever (3); - a cam link (8); - first actuating shaft (5); - first actuating pin (4); - said gear select lever (3), cam link (8), first actuating shaft (5), first actuating pin (4) are housed and supported in said shifter housing (6) and forming said primary gear shifting system in combination with various joining, frictional resistance means like, bolts (14), bushes (13), springs (15), spacers (16), regularly used in gear shifting system; wherein, - free end of said first actuating pin (4) is provided with male / female part of ball and socket / gear / sector or similar type of joint (33), to operator corresponding female / male end provided for the input of said secondary gear shifting mechanism (32). 3. A secondary gear shifting mechanism (32), of a manual gear-shifting system, in an agricultural or industrial vehicle as claimed in claim (1) comprising : - a housing (36); - a socket link (23); - a second actuating shaft (24); - a second actuating pin (25); wherein, 10 - said socket link, second actuating shaft, second actuating pin are housed and supported in said housing, which is normally a separate housing like said shifter housing (6) or can be part of transmission housing (2 or 36) and forming said secondary gear shifting mechanism in combination with various joining, frictional resistance means like, bolts (14), bushes (13), springs (15), spacers (16), regularly used in gear shifting system; - said second actuating shaft is housed and supported in said housing, one of the end is fixed to said socket link, whereas another end is connected to said second actuating pin; - free end (28) of said socket link is provided with female / male part of said ball and socket / gear / sector or similar type of joint, which receives linear or rotary (clockwise / anticlockwise) motion from said first actuating pin and transfer it to said second actuating pin through said second actuating shaft (24); - said second actuating pin (25) is designed to operate shifter blocks (26) / rails (27) / forks (35) projected either from top or side of the power transmission, which is located in said transmission housing (2). 4. A manual gear shifting system (30), as claimed above, in which said improved (primary) side gear shifting mechanism (31) and a secondary gear shifting mechanism (32), are connected to each other by means of ball and socket / gear / sector or similar type of design in between output and input ends of respective systems. 5. A manual gear shifting system (30) as claimed in claim 4, in which gear shifting command in the form of longitudinal and transverse movement of said gear select lever given by the driving personnel is transferred to the transmission shifting means viz. said forks (35), rails (27), shifter blocks (26), while travelling from said cam link, first actuating shaft, first actuating pin, socket link, second actuating shaft and second actuating pin. 11 6. A manual gear shifting system (30), in an agricultural or industrial vehicle comprising of an improved (primary) side gear shifting mechanism (31) and secondary gear shifting mechanism (32) as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 21ST day of November 2005 TO THE CONTROLLER OF PATENTS THE PATENT OFFICE, MUMBAI 12 ABSTRACT The present invention generally relates to a manual gear-shifting system, in an agricultural or industrial vehicle like tractor, and more particularly to the tractor transmission side gear-shifting system, wherein entire gear-shifting system is located either on left & / or right side of the operating personnel, thereby improving sitting & operational comfort drastically by ensuring front free space and minimizing modifications & relocation of various affected components, thereby minimizing development time and cost. MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD. BY THEIR ADVOCATES-IP TO THE CONTROLLER OF PATENTS THE PATENT OFFICE, MUMBAI 13

Documents:

1446-MUM-2005-ABSTRACT(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-ABSTRACT(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-mum-2005-abstract.doc

1446-mum-2005-abstract.pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CLAIMS(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(21-12-2011).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CLAIMS(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-mum-2005-claims.doc

1446-mum-2005-claims.pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CORRESPONDENCE 16-6-2008.pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(12-11-2012).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(28-5-2013).pdf

1446-mum-2005-correspondence(3-12-2007).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(IPO)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-mum-2005-correspondence-received.pdf

1446-mum-2005-description (complete).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-DESCRIPTION(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-DRAWING(21-12-2011).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-DRAWING(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-DRAWING(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-mum-2005-drawings.pdf

1446-MUM-2005-FORM 13(28-5-2013).pdf

1446-mum-2005-form 18(3-12-2007).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-FORM 2(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-FORM 2(TITLE PAGE)-(21-12-2011).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-FORM 2(TITLE PAGE)-(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-FORM 2(TITLE PAGE)-(GRANTED)-(28-2-2014).pdf

1446-mum-2005-form-1.pdf

1446-mum-2005-form-2.doc

1446-mum-2005-form-2.pdf

1446-mum-2005-form-26.pdf

1446-mum-2005-form-3.pdf

1446-mum-2005-form-5.pdf

1446-MUM-2005-MARKED COPY(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-POWER OF ATTORNEY(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT(21-12-2011).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-REPLY TO HEARING(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-SPECIFICATION(AMENDED)-(21-12-2011).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-SPECIFICATION(AMENDED)-(24-2-2014).pdf

1446-MUM-2005-SPECIFICATION(MARKED COPY)-(21-12-2011).pdf