Patent ID: 7794329

Claim:
In a torque overload clutch having an outer member and an inner member radially inward of said outer member, and at least one detent between said inner member and said outer member which maintains said members in rotational driving engagement with one another below a certain overload torque between said members, each said detent including a driving member that slides radially in an opening in said inner member between an engaged position in which said driving member is seated in a recess of said outer member in driving engagement with said recess and a disengaged position in which said driving member is retracted from said recess and said outer member is continuously rotatable relative to said inner member, said driving member being moved radially outward to engage in said recess by a mechanism including a spring that exerts an axial spring force that biases said driving member into said engaged position, the improvement wherein: said driving member and said inner member are axially captured in the outer member by a ring that fits in a groove around a bore of the outer member, so as to limit compression of the spring by thrust loads placed on the inner member.