GB400210A - Plate clutches - Google Patents

Abstract

400,210. Centrifugal clutches. HARDY, SPICER, & CO., Ltd., Birch Road, Witton, Birmingham. April 18, 1933, No. 11328. Convention date, April 19, 1932. [Class 80 (ii).] In a speed-responsive clutch, automatic release and engagement can be overruled at will by independent control means embodying means outside the clutch housing for effecting adjustment of the clutch. The driven plate 41 of the clutch is arranged between plates 7, 20 rotating with but axially movable in the driving flywheel 2. Springs 9 urge the plate 7 towards the flywheel web 3, while centrifugally-acting weights 12 lying in recesses 13 in the latter and carried by stems 11 extending through slots therein have feet 14 disposed between the plate 7 and the web 3. The plate 20 is urged towards the flanged end 16 of the flywheel by tension springs 18 and is urged towards the plate 41 by springs 25, 26 acting through radial levers 27 which pivot about an annular ridge 23 on a ring 22 secured in the flange 16 and engage an annular ridge 24 on the plate 20. One end of the springs 25, 26 bears against a disc 31 which is loosely mounted on a sleeve 29 slidable on the driven shaft 33 and which seats at its periphery against a portion 32 of the flange 16, while the other end of the spring acts on the inner ends of the levers 27, which cooperate with a flange 28 on the sleeve 29. The spring 26 is normally unstressed. The sleeve 29 is controlled by a yoke 36 fixed on a shaft 37 mounted in the end plate 38 of the clutch housing 39. A pedal 40 is fixed to one end of the shaft 37, while an arm 48 on the other end carries an adjustable screw 47 which cooperates with the end 46 of a latch 45 pivoted at 44 on a bracket 43 attached to the plate 38. The latch is controlled by Bowden mechanism 49 from a knob 50, and a spring 51 urges the end 46 towards the screw 47 when the knob 50 has been appropriately set. With the pedal in the normal intermediate position A, in which the latch is raised so that its end 46 lies between the screw 47 and the bracket 43, above a predetermined speed the weights 12 act through their feet 14 to move the plate 7 to the left to cause clutch engagement in two stages, first under the pressure of spring 25 only and then under the pressure of both springs 25 and 26 If the pedal is depressed to the position B, the plate 20 is moved by the springs 18 sufficiently to the left to prevent clutch engagement at all speeds. If, however, the knob 50 is pulled so as to lower the latch, the spring 25 acts to move the pedal into position C and move the plate 20 sufficiently to the right to cause clutch engagement at all speeds. By adjusting the screw 47, the automatic action may be regulated. Fan blades 54 on the levers 27 draw air through a funnel 53 and discharge it through an aperture 56 fitted with a flap 57 controlled by Bowden mechanism 58.