Endless belt power transmission systems or components – Positive drive belt – Drive surfaces on belt formed in or interconnected by...
Patent
1996-10-31
1999-02-09
Schoeppel, Roger J.
Endless belt power transmission systems or components
Positive drive belt
Drive surfaces on belt formed in or interconnected by...
474270, 198845, 198847, F16G 128
Patent
active
058686398
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a drive. A motion-transmission member in the form of a strap or belt wraps around both a belt-driving wheel and a belt-motion deflector. The belt either constitutes or can be fastened at the ends to constitute a continuous loop. A surface structure extends at least part-way along the belt. The surface structure extends approximately more than half-way along the belt when motion is transmitted back and forth. A matching structure extends along at least the contact surface of the belt-driving wheel. The structure on the surface of the belt-driving wheel fits into and engages the structure on the surface of the belt along the direction that force is being transmitted in.
Drives of this genus are primarily employed to move components back and forth along a limited stretch, to open and close a door panel for example. The mechanisms addressed herein, however, are not only those that move along a limited stretch or back and forth between two points. The drives employed for such purposes can transmit motion either by friction or by means of form-fit ("formschlussig") components, chains and cogged belts in particular. Form fit between part of the member attached to the component being moved on the one hand and the belt-driving wheel on the other is satisfactory for back-and-forth motions over limited stretches. A door panel for example can be operated by a motor-powered chain wheel if the wheel engages a chain-like section of a continuous-loop motion-transmission member that the panel is attached to.
The continuous loop makes it possible to avoid long stretches wherein no motion occurs, as in rack-and-pinion mechanisms for example.
One advantage of a drive with form fit is that it cannot slip. Another is the absolute precision, allowing of course for tensional distortion, with which the engaging members can be matched along the stretch in question. Driving force usually needs to be applied only between the output wheel and the belt-shaped motion-transmission member, when, specifically, the latter is directly fastened to the component being moved, which often happens when the motion is back-and-forth. It is on the other hand also possible to transmit the output from the drive by way of the belt-motion deflector, especially if the latter is a wheel, which can then be included if necessary in the interlocking engagement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Chains and cogged belts of the conventional genus are relatively expensive and sometimes even noisy. The object of the present invention is to improve the generic drive to the extent that, although it employs form fit, it will be as inexpensive and reliable as one that depends on frictional engagement between a motion-transmission member in the form of the strap or belt that is conventional in such applications and a belt-driving wheel and belt-motion deflector (wheel).
This object is attained in accordance with the present invention in that the surface structure is applied additionally and/or subsequently to a belt produced by weaving and accordingly "smooth-surfaced".
The particularity of this approach is that a belt that especially very practical and cost-effective with respect to manufacture and resistance to deformation can be employed as a point of departure for a form-fit motion-transmission member. The member can be provided in many ways, all simple, with appropriate form-fit structures. One particularly preferred embodiment of such structures are prefabricated coglike elevations cemented or fused to the surface of the belt facing the belt-driving wheel. Preferably by cementing and particularly by fusing. The coglike elevations engage matching coglike shapes at least on the belt-driving wheel. If output occurs by way of the belt-deflecting wheel, that wheel will also be provided with matching coglike shapes.
Since the drives of interest in the present context employ of course a direct coupling between the component being moved (the door panel) and the belt-like motion-transmission member, the belt-deflectin
REFERENCES:
patent: 208432 (1878-09-01), Spadone
patent: 4072062 (1978-02-01), Morling et al.
patent: 4637511 (1987-01-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 5013286 (1991-05-01), Breher
patent: 5123881 (1992-06-01), Btautigam et al.
Fogiel Max
Hormann KG Verkaufsgesellschaft
Schoeppel Roger J.
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