By the way, the hideously expensive seamless-shift gearboxes in the Honda MotoGP works bikes are based on the same principle.
The clutch and the primary gearbox shaft of the Honda gearbox are quite conventional; they could have come out of an old Maico, Zündapp or Simson engine:
Attachment 335712
All secrets are brought together in the secondary gearbox shaft:
Attachment 335711
This secondary shaft looks like a cylinder from a security lock, with pawls that are operated from the inside by a rod that slides through the hollow gearbox shaft:
Attachment 335709
The essence of the Honda box can be seen in the picture below. The pawls in the shaft connect and disconnect the gears to the shaft:
Attachment 335710
In this drawing a tumbler Rao connects the gear to the shaft when the gear is rotating clockwise. And a tumbler Rbo is connecting the gear to the shaft when the gear is rotating anticlockwise. So in this drawing the gear is locked to the shaft.
The tumblers are governed from within the shaft via an axially moving rod.
Now if we perform an upshift, the shaft will need to rotate faster than the gear. Let us assume that the shaft is rotating clockwise. So we need to retract tumbler Rbo. Now the gear can still drive the shaft, but the shaft cannot drive the gear any more.
Next we engage tumbler Rao of the
next gear, so
it can
also drive the shaft. Then we retract tumbler Rao of our original gear, so it can now freewheel in both directions. And finally we engage tumbler Rbo of the next gear so that it is now locked to the shaft.
That's all, folks: transporting torque from the gears to the shaft without interruption, both while shifting up and down.
Honda has filed patent applications for their seamless gearbox in Japan and the United States (patent applications 2010-203478 and US20110023639, respectively).
You can download the US patent document here:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2011/0023639.html
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