Rotary shafts – gudgeons – housings – and flexible couplings for ro – Coupling accommodates drive between members having... – Coupling transmits torque via radially directed pin
Patent
1985-06-04
1986-09-02
Levy, Stuart S.
Rotary shafts, gudgeons, housings, and flexible couplings for ro
Coupling accommodates drive between members having...
Coupling transmits torque via radially directed pin
464106, 464147, F16D 316, F16D 350
Patent
active
046093648
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a universal coupling between a first rotary shaft and a second rotary shaft, the coupling being of the tripod joint type having a single bending point, and comprising: a transmission unit constituted by an assembly of three oscillating members hinged about a common axis; a first drive tulip fixed to the end of the first shaft; and a second drive tulip fixed to the end of the second shaft; each drive tulip being fitted with three drive members each having an axis of symmetry which is fixed relative to its drive tulip, the axes of symmetry of the six drive members meeting on the said common axis of the three oscillating members, the axes of symmetry of the drive members of the first tulip making an angle .beta. with the axis of the first shaft, and the axes of symmetry of the drive members of the second tulip making an angle .alpha. with the axis of the second shaft, the projections of the said axes of symmetry of the drive members of each tulip on a plane perpendicular to the axis of the shaft connected to that tulip forming the vertices of a substantially equilateral triangle; each of the three oscillating members including guide means co-operating with a pair of drive members, one of which belongs to the first tulip and the other of which belongs to the second tulip, in such a manner as firstly to prevent a tulip from becoming detached from the said transmission unit, and secondly to enable each drive member to move relative to the oscillating member with which it is co-operating over a portion of a circular path whose middle plane contains the said common axis and the said axis of symmetry of the said drive member under consideration and whose center is located at the said point at which the drive member axes of symmetry meet.
The term "universal joint of the type having a single bending point" is used in distinction, for example, to a coupling having two cardan type joints which imposes two bending points which are more or less close to the line of the shaft connected thereby.
French Pat. No. 2 184 701 describes, with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, universal coupling having a single bending point as defined above. In this document, the transmission unit is constituted by a hinged assembly of three semicircular plates.
The edge of each plate includes a groove for guiding the said drive members. This groove is of trapezoidal cross section with its larger base closer to the hinge. Each of the two drive tulips is constituted by a spherical cap carrying its three drive members, each of which is constituted by a conical roller whose axis is at an acute angle .alpha. with the axis of the shaft carrying the tulip in question. The angle of inclination of the axes of the conical rollers is the same for both tulips, thus giving .alpha.=.beta.. When the shafts are aligned, the three semicircular plates are at 120.degree. intervals from one another. Each semicircular plate thus receives two conical rollers, one from one tulip and the other from the other tulip.
It will readily be understood that such a coupling is quite incapable of bending so that the two shafts are at an angle of 90.degree. to each other. Each roller could have a theoretical stroke of 90.degree. only if it had zero diameter, which is impossible. In practice the shafts cannot be at an angle of less than about 120.degree. to 130.degree. in order to leave room for the rollers to have sufficient diameter, which rollers are obviously incapable of passing through the hinge axis of the three plates.
Further, such a coupling is in mechanical equilibrium only when the three plates are at 120.degree. to one another, which is only true when the shafts are aligned. This makes such a coupling unuseable at high speeds of shaft rotation.
The main aim of the present invention is to provide a universal coupling enabling a very large angular bend between the shafts to be coupled, with the angle between the shafts being capable of going down to 90.degree. or even a little less.
Further, a coupling in accordance with the invention is in
REFERENCES:
patent: 1184915 (1916-05-01), Bartlett
patent: 2057736 (1936-10-01), Parville
patent: 2342625 (1944-02-01), Brooks
patent: 2354961 (1944-08-01), O'Donnell
patent: 2453279 (1948-11-01), Starbuck
Levy Stuart S.
Stodola Daniel P.
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