Patent ID: 7220182

Claim:
A rotary shaft coupling intended to accommodate both parallel and angular misalignment between coupled rotary shafts relative to an aligned axis of rotation, said rotary shaft coupling comprising: an axial connector possessing two radially perpendicular radial bores axially spaced apart from each other, two torque pins, and two yoked hubs each possessing means for engaging the end of a rotary shaft including a shaft bore; each said torque pin being slidably and rotatably mounted within one said radial bore by a medial slide allowing both radial and rotary displacement of said torque pin with respect to said axial connector; each said yoked hub possessing two radially opposed forks each possessing two fork arms and two apposed fork faces defining an arcuate path within a plane normal to an axis of the yoked hub, the arcuate path possessing a radius with respect to a midpoint between said two radially opposed forks upon said axis; each said torque pin being mounted at either end within one of said two radially opposed forks in a distal slide allowing slidable displacement in contact with one of said two opposed fork faces within said arcuate path and angular displacement of said opposed fork relative to said torque pin; whereby both lateral and angular misalignment is accommodated in operation with radial displacement of said torque pins with respect to said axial connector and reciprocating arcuate displacement of each end of each torque pin in one said arcuate path combined with reciprocating radial and rotary displacement of each torque pin with respect to one of said two radial bores possessed by said axial connector.