Patent 7452305 was granted and assigned to Eaton Corporation on November, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A vehicular powertrain system includes a prime mover having an output, a multi-ratio transmission having an input, and a torque reduction coupling system coupling the prime mover output and the multi-ratio transmission input. The exemplary torque reduction coupling system includes a clutch and a planetary gear set selectively coupling the prime mover output to the multi-ratio transmission input. The exemplary planetary gear set includes one components of the planetary gear set being selectively coupled to the clutch.