Patent 7601088 was granted and assigned to NSK Ltd. on October, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A control unit is imparted a function in which the engagement of a high-speed clutch which had been in disengagement until then is started (or the energization of a high-speed clutch solenoid switch valve is put to ON) before a change-speed of a toroidal continuously variable transmission has reached an optimal value for performance of a mode switch (a point A, for example, 0.46 in a speed increasing ratio) or at a point B (for example, 0.6 in the speed increasing ratio). As a result of this, the problem can be solved.