Patent ID: 7344010

Claim:
An overrunning coupling assembly comprising: a planar first member having an inside first surface; a planar second member having an inside second surface closely adjacent to the first surface, at least one of the members being mounted for rotation about a first axis; pawl-receiving portions and pawl-holding portions formed on the members; a forward set of free-floating pawls and a reverse set of free-floating, clustered pawls, the pawls being received and retained in the pawl-holding portions but not physically secured to the pawl-holding portions, the pawls being movable between engaged and disengaged positions between the pawl-receiving and pawl-holding portions, the reverse pawls preventing rotation between the members in a reverse direction about the first axis in their engaged position and allowing rotation between the members in a forward direction about the first axis in their disengaged position; a first set of biasing members carried by the pawl-holding portions and urging the forward and reverse set of pawls outwardly from their respective pawl-holding portions; and a control element mounted for controlled, shifting movement between the surfaces relative to the pawl-holding portions and operable to control position of the reverse set of clustered pawls, the control element having at least one opening which extends completely therethrough to allow the reverse set of clustered pawls to extend therethrough to their engaged position in a first position of the control element and wherein the control element maintains the reverse set of clustered pawls in their disengaged position in a second position of the control element wherein each of the forward and reverse sets of pawls is clustered or grouped closely together in a curved line or row and wherein the control element is less than fully circular.