Patent ID: 8714806

Claim:
A coupling apparatus for coupling between an input shaft of a to-be-driven apparatus and an output shaft of a drive apparatus for driving said to-be-driven apparatus, said coupling apparatus comprising: a gear coupling section, wherein said gear coupling section comprises a pair of first cylindrical bodies, said pair of first cylindrical bodies being fitted on said input shaft of said to-be-driven apparatus and said output shaft of said drive apparatus respectively and having first gears on outer periphery surfaces thereof respectively, a pair of second cylindrical bodies, said pair of second cylindrical bodies being loosely fitted on said pair of first cylindrical bodies to define a clearance therebetween and having second gears on inner surfaces thereof respectively, said second gears meshing with said pair of first gears respectively, a lubricating oil flowing hole extending through said second cylindrical bodies, and a coupler detachably connected to each of said second cylindrical bodies for detachably coupling said second cylindrical bodies with each other, wherein the second cylindrical bodies respectively overlap the input shaft and the output shaft when the coupler is connected to said second cylindrical bodies; and a lubricating section capable of supplying a lubricant between said gears, wherein said lubricating section includes an oil case underlying said gear coupling section to store lubricating oil as said lubricant, and said gears are immersed in the lubricating oil stored in said oil case and are thus lubricated in an oil bath, wherein lubricating oil in the clearance can flow to the oil case and lubricating oil in the oil case can flow to the clearance via said lubricating oil flowing hole, said gears being in mesh with each other so as to slide relatively in a face width direction with rotation of said input shaft, wherein said lubricating oil flowing hole is provided at an axial mid-portion of each of said second cylindrical bodies, and wherein said axial mid-portion axially overlaps said first cylindrical body.