Patent ID: 6174238
Filing Date: 2001-01-16
Classification: F16D

Abstract:
Torque transmitting and limiting coupling which disengages a driven member from the drive member when transmitted torque exceeds a maximum value and which enables reengagement when relative velocity drops, the members including an outer member and an inner member, said coupling comprising: on an internal surface of said outer member, recesses with lead-in surfaces running parallel to the axis of rotation; inside the inner member, essentially radial seats allowing movement and defined by two planar walls parallel to the axis of rotation of the coupling, said essentially radial seats for allowing movement being equal in number to said recesses with lead-in surfaces; in each of said essentially radial seats for allowing movement, a sliding key resembling a tablet in shape and able to move radially under the action of elastic means in a centrifugal direction, and with a shaped outer profile able to enter one or other of said recesses with lead-in surfaces the outer member, in order to transmit torque between said inner and outer members and generate centripetal radial forces on the sliding key; each of said recesses with lead-in surfaces having at least one peg flush with the internal surface of said outer member; and in that in each of said tablet-like sliding keys at least one transverse through notch is formed, each notch being designed so as to accommodate one said peg; the arrangement of the peg in each of the various recesses being different from that in the other recesses and corresponding to the arrangement of the notch of one sliding key only, so that each sliding key can only enter the corresponding recess and continues past the other recesses, sliding over their peg, and engagement occurs only in one unique angular position of the two members of the coupling with respect to each other and simultaneously with all the sliding keys in their corresponding recesses.