Patent ID: 7635056

Claim:
A pressure plate assembly for a friction clutch including at least one disk, the pressure plate assembly comprising: a housing fixed to an abutment arrangement for joint rotation therewith about an axis of rotation; a plate arrangement comprising two plates mounted in the housing with freedom to rotate with the housing about the axis of rotation and operative to move axially relative to the housing; an energy storage device supported on the housing and the plate arrangement and operative to generate an axial contact force exerted on the plate arrangement; and a releasing spring arrangement comprising at least one first leaf spring disposed between the plate arrangement and the housing operative to exert an elastic restoring force on the plate arrangement in opposition to the contact force and radially supporting the plate arrangement so as to prevent rotation of the plate arrangement and the housing relative to one another, and at least one second leaf spring between the two plates operative to exert an elastic restoring force to separate the two plates and radially supporting the two plates relative to each other to prevent relative rotation between the two plates, wherein the housing comprises a plurality of support sections extending axially between the abutment arrangement and the energy storage device radially outwards from the plate arrangement so as to radially cover the plate arrangement, the plurality of support sections being spaced circumferentially so as to define a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart openings each extending between adjacent support sections, and wherein each of the two plates comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart plate sections radially extending into the openings between the support sections of the housing, the plate sections of one of the two plates of the plate arrangement supporting the energy storage device, the at least one first leaf spring and the at least one second leaf spring being arranged in different ones of the openings; and wherein each of the plurality of support sections each comprises a support surface flatly resting on the abutment arrangement either directly or indirectly and screwed or riveted to the abutment arrangement, the plurality of support sections of the housing each have an axially extending section terminating with a foot, the foot comprising an axially extending flange defining a support surface of the plurality of the support sections, and the foot extends radially outwards from the axially extending section of the plurality of support sections of the housing.