GB373027A - Improvements in or relating to driving and "free wheel" mechanism or couplings for shafts and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

373,027. Ratchet clutches. SHARMAN, C. P., 17, Northumberland Road, Sheffield. Aug. 28, 1931, No. 24202. [Class 80 (ii).] In ratchet clutches for motor cars &c. of the kind in which the parts may be locked together for drive in both directions, screw threads in a casing 1 secured to a driving disc 2 on the shaft A engage similar threads on a ring 3 carrying teeth 3a adapted to engage teeth 5a on a sleeve 5 on the driven shaft 5 when the shaft A tends to overrun the shaft B. The movement of the ring 3 is ensured by the engagement with its interior of a spring 14, Fig. 6, secured to a sleeve 13 splined to the shaft B, the spring tending to expand during the driving movement of the ring 3 and to contract when the shaft B overruns. To secure the two-direction lock, a plate 10, spring- pressed against or secured to an axially movable control collar 9, carries bevel-ended pins 11 engaging loose pins 12 which can thus be pressed out to maintain the engagement of the clutch teeth, but will not return under reactive pressure until the pins 11 are withdrawn. The splines B<1>, Fig. 6, on which the sleeve 13 slides may be recessed at B<2> oppositely to the direction of drive, so that the sleeve becomes a baulking member, preventing clutch engagement until the speeds of the driving and driven shafts equalize. The control collar 9 may be interconnected by a lost-motion linkage with the main clutch pedal, so that the two-way drive may be inoperative when the main clutch is disengaged during gear changing and is reestablished when the main clutch is re-engaged.