Patent ID: 7040276

Claim:
A drive shaft coupling device comprising: a drive shaft provided in an internal combustion engine internally lubricated with oil, wherein torque generated by the internal combustion engine rotatably drives said drive shaft; a driven device attached to said internal combustion engine, wherein said driven device has a driven shaft that is coaxially disposed with said drive shaft and is driven by said drive shaft; an Oldham coupling disposed between said drive shaft and said driven shaft to absorb shaft misalignment of said drive shaft and said driven shaft using a slide; and oil supply means for supplying a joint sliding portion of said Oldham coupling with part of said oil flowing within said internal combustion engine, wherein an approximate center of said drive shaft defines an oil supply path and said oil supply means supplies a center portion of rotation of said Oldham coupling with oil, wherein said Oldham coupling defines an orifice in said oil supply path for adjusting an amount of oil supply, wherein said Oldham coupling is provided with inward oil supply means, said inward oil supply means defining a groove for directing said oil supplied by said oil supply means from an oil supply area to an inward portion of said Oldham coupling, said Oldham coupling further comprising: a union formed at a side of said drive shaft; a coupling plate having an arm portion slidable along a first groove formed in said union, said coupling plate fitted into said first groove that extends in an orthogonal direction with respect to an axial direction of said union; an Oldham projection, which is slidably fitted into a second groove extending in the orthogonal direction with respect to the arm portion formed in the coupling plate, said Oldham projection formed at an end of a driven shaft; and an oil supply means defining: a recess disposed in an appropriate middle of an end surface of the Oldham projection so that oil supplied from the oil supply means is led thereinto.