Patent ID: 8113088
Filing Date: 2012-02-14
Classification: F16H,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A differential gear mechanism for supplying torque from a drive shaft to a pair of aligned output shafts, said differential gear mechanism comprising: a gear case including a body that defines a gear chamber having a pair of opposed openings adapted to support a corresponding pair of axle half shafts defining an axis of rotation; a gear set including a pair of output gears rotatably supported in said gear chamber adjacent to a corresponding opening; each of said output gears including a hub having a tapered portion facing an adjacent opening and each of said openings defines an inner chamfer portion that corresponds to an adjacent tapered portion on said hub of one of said output gears, said differential gear mechanism further including a thrust spring disposed between said pair of output gears and acting to bias each of said output gears away from one another and toward an adjacent chamfer portion; said gear case and said gear set cooperating to move said output gears such that said tapered portion is disposed in frictional, torque-translating engagement with said chamfer portion of an adjacent, corresponding opening to bias the torque translated through the differential to the half shafts under predetermined conditions; and said gear case and said gear set cooperating to generate an inward thrust force acting through said output gears against the biasing force of said thrust spring when the torque requirements for the half shafts are substantially the same such that said tapered portion of said output gears are disposed in substantially non-contacting relationship with its associated chamfer portion.