Patent ID: 8857589

Claim:
A bi-directional overrunning clutch for driving two shafts of an axle, the clutch comprising: a housing adapted to be engaged with and rotated by a drive mechanism, the housing including an inner cam surface; a pair of hubs substantially coaxially aligned with each other within the housing including a first hub adapted to engage an end of a first shaft of a drive axle and a second hub adapted to engage an end of a second shaft of the drive axle; a roller assembly including a roll cage having a first set of slots located about one hub and a second set of slots located about the other hub, and a set of rollers located in each set of slots between the corresponding hub and the inner cam surface of the housing, the set of rollers surrounding each hub being adapted to wedgingly engage between the hub and the inner cam surface for transmitting torque therebetween; a pair of end cap assemblies attached at each end of the housing so as to rotate with the housing, including a first end cap adjacent to the first hub and a second end cap adjacent to the second hub; and a pair of friction disk mechanisms including a first friction disk mechanism in contact with the roll cage and the first hub and a second friction disk mechanism in contact with the roll cage and the second hub, the friction disk mechanisms being adapted to cause the roll cage to rotate with one or both of the hubs, each friction disk mechanism including a roll cage plate attached to or formed on the roll cage so as to rotate with the roll cage, an inner hub friction member attached to the hub so as to rotate with the hub, a slip disk contacting a portion of the end cap assembly, and a spring compressed between the slip disk and the inner hub friction member biasing the inner hub friction member into frictional contact with the roll cage plate; wherein the slip disk includes a surface with a coefficient of friction configured to reduce torsional loading on the spring; and wherein the inner cam surface has a forward cam surface and a reverse cam surface, such that when the housing is rotating faster than the hub, the rollers wedgingly engage between the forward cam surface and the hub, and when the hubs are both rotating faster than the housing, the rollers wedgingly engage between the reverse cam surface and the hub.