Patent ID: 9441678
Filing Date: 2016-09-13
CPC Classification: A01B,A01D,F16D,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. A shearable drive coupling assembly configured for coupling together a blade of a mowing deck with a drive motor and capable of decoupling from the drive motor under excessive torque, said assembly comprising: an adapter being elongated along a longitudinal axis extending through a top end and a bottom end of said adapter, said adapter being configured to be inserted into a receiver on an article of powered equipment; said adapter having a drive shaft well extending downwardly into a top end of said adapter; a plurality of spindle splines extending outwardly from an outer surface of said adapter; a plurality of shaft splines extending inwardly from an inside surface of said adaptor and extending into said drive shaft well; said bottom end of said adapter being configured to be slidably positionable within the receiver wherein said plurality of spindle splines on said adapter engages the receiver; said drive shaft well being configured to insertably receive a drive shaft of a drive motor wherein said plurality of shaft splines engages the drive shaft such that said adapter is coupled to the drive shaft, wherein said adapter transfers a rotational torque between the drive shaft and the receiver; said plurality of spindle splines or said plurality of shaft splines shearing away from said adapter to decouple the drive shaft from the receiver when the receiver is exposed to a trigger counter-rotational force such that the receiver and the drive shaft are protected from damage; and wherein said bottom end of said adapter has an aperture extending therein and into said drive shaft well, a wall surface bounding said aperture being threaded, a threaded rod threadably extended into said aperture and abutted against the drive shaft to urge the drive shaft outwardly from said adapter.