Patent GB-696785-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to a clutch mechanism
IPC: F16D55/00
Filed: 1951-05-15
Abstract: 696,785. Friction clutches. CLEARING MACHINE CORPORATION. May 15, 1951 [Nov. 14, 1950], No. 11296/51. Class 80 (ii). [Also in Group XXXIV] A combined clutch and brake mechanism, particularly for presses, comprises a normally engaged brake 1, a normally disengaged clutch 2, and a common air or other fluid supply adapted to disengage the brake and engage the clutch to connect a continuously rotating flywheel 45 with a shaft 3. The shaft 3 has keyed thereto firstly a brake spider 22 having substantially semicircular openings carrying replaceable friction elements 24, Fig. 8, and secondly a clutch spider 41 carrying similarly-shaped friction elements. A brake ring 16 is bolted to a fixed bearing member 11 and has a groove housing a ring piston 18 movable by a diaphragm 20. Slidable pins 36 connect the ring 18 with a ring 29 which is secured by bolts 30 to a brake reaction plate 25, and the ring 29 is urged towards ring 16 by replaceable springs mounted on studs 33 carried by the ring 16, clearance holes being provided in the plate 25. A flange on the ring 16 has internal teeth engaging teeth on the ring 29 to prevent relative, angular movement between the brake ring 16 and reaction plate 25. In the drawings fluid has been admitted to the diaphragm 20 to hold the brake disengaged. The plate 25 and ring 29 have projections 37, 39, Fig. 1, and are normally bolted together with the projections in abutment. Adjustment for wear of the elements 24 may be effected by removing the bolts 30, axially moving plate 25 to clear the studs 33, and partly rotating the plate so that the projections 37 may engage the recesses between the projections 39 to allow adjustment by tightening the bolts 30. The axial movement of plate 25 is sufficient to expose the elements 24 to allow replacement thereof, if necessary. The clutch 2 is mounted in the flywheel 45 and comprises a pressure plate 44, reaction plate 43 and a piston plate 46 movable, within the limit of a shoulder in the flywheel, by a diaphragm 65 operated by fluid which enters at a central opening 87 in a hub extension 75 and passes through passages therein to a passage or tube supplying the diaphragm. The plate 43 is secured to the flywheel by bolts 63, respective projections corresponding to the projections 37, 39 being provided to allow adjustment for wear or replacement of the clutch friction elements, after removing the bolts 63. The flywheel projections are flanged to centre the plate 43. The movable pressure plate 44 has a number of extensions 61 fitting into openings in the flywheel and bolted to the piston plate 46, and springs 67 normally maintain the clutch disengaged. Grooves 68 on the flywheel may receive a plurality of driving belts. The hub extension 75 is secured by bolts 78 to the flywheel hub which is supported by bearings in a bracket 86, the shaft 3 being supported at its other end by a bracket 85 integral with the member 11. The construction of clutch and brake ensures that apart from the clutch and brake spiders, nearly all parts are either fixed or continuously rotating.