Patent ID: 7146820

Claim:
An ice maker comprising: a mold in which water is frozen to form ice bodies; a rotatable ejector having a central ejector shaft and plurality of radial arms for ejecting ice bodies from said mold; a drive for rotatably driving said ice ejector, said drive including a drive motor and a gear wheel rotatably driven by said drive motor; a drive coupling between said gear wheel and ejector shaft that includes a bore formed in a sleeve in said gear wheel, said sleeve extending outwardly to one side of said gear wheel and shaft section coaxial with said gear wheel, said bore being formed with a plurality of internal circumferentially spaced longitudinal splines, and said shaft section being formed with a plurality of external circumferentially spaced longitudinal splines complimentary to the splines of said bore such that said splined shaft section is positionable within said splined bore with said splines of said bore and shaft section effecting rotary torque transmission therebetween; and said shaft section having a pair of locking legs that extend from one end of the shaft section through said bore into engaging relation with a side of said gear wheel and being operatively coupled to said ejector shaft.