The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for vehicles, and, more particularly, to an automatic transmission for use with vehicles of the FF type, i.e. of the front engine-front drive type.
In an automobile of the FF type, the condition that the drive wheel axles are located close to the engine imposes a great difficulty on the arrangement of an automatic transmission because this requires that the driving end and the driven end of the automatic transmission should be located close to each other. On the other hand, the automatic transmission for other vehicle types, which is generally a tandem connection of a fluid torque converter and a reduction gear mechanism and which sometimes further includes an overdrive gear mechanism, has, as a general structure, its input and output members located at its opposite ends.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds