Patent ID: 8747276

Claim:
A drive device, comprising: a planetary gear reduction device including at least two stages and an output shaft, each stage including: a sun gear rotatable by torque from a drive source; an outer gear disposed coaxially with the sun gear; multiple planetary gears disposed within the outer gear at equal intervals along an inner circumference of the outer gear to engage both the sun gear and the outer gear, respectively; a carrier rotatable coaxially with both the sun gear and the outer gear to rotatably support the multiple planetary gears; and a support shaft held by the carrier to rotatably support each of the multiple planetary gears, wherein the output shaft is provided to the carrier of the last stage; and a driven shaft to support a driven member rotatively driven by torque by the planetary gear reduction device and transmit the torque from the output shaft of the planetary gear reduction device to the driven member, wherein central axes of the sun gear, the outer gear, the carrier, the output shaft, the driven shaft, and the driven member are all arranged coaxially with one another and at least one carrier is floatingly supported relative to the outer gear, wherein the carrier includes: a first lateral plate and a second lateral plate disposed to sandwich the multiple planetary gears therebetween in an axial direction, each of the first and second lateral plates includes a hole, a plurality of holes formed in the first and second lateral plates to support a carrier pin forming a single integrated unit, and an opening provided between the first and second plates, wherein the opening is formed such that the planetary gears are insertable into the carrier from outside through the opening, and wherein a diameter of the carrier pin is larger than a diameter of the plurality of holes in the first and second lateral plates so that both ends of the carrier pin are fitted onto the respective holes of the first and second lateral plates.