GB402377A - Speed-responsive clutches - Google Patents

Abstract

402,377. Friction clutches. HARDY, SPICER, & CO., Ltd., Birch Road, Witton, Birmingham.-(Automatic Drive & Transmission Co. ; 554, South Broadway, Gloucester City, New Jersey, U.S.A.) April 18, 1933, No. 23658. Divided on 399,421. [Class 80 (ii).] In a centrifugal clutch comprising a driven plate 16 disposed between a driving flywheel 11 and a presser plate 20 rotating with the latter, weights 32 are carried by stems 31 which extend through slots in a spring-supported plate 22 rotating with the flywheel and which carry at the other end feet 33 engaging between the adjacent surfaces of the plates 20, 22. Above a predetermined speed, the plate 20 is moved, by the tilting of the feet 33, to the left to engage the plate 16, the reaction being taken by the springs 46 supporting the plate 22. The springs 46 abut against a plate 49, and the free ends of radial levers 50, which are fulcrummed on links 44 pivoted to brackets 43 on the flywheel and which are pivotally connected to the plate 22 at 51, engage between the plate 49 and a control sleeve 52. As the clutch engages, the movement to the right of the plate 22, due to the reaction, causes the plate 49 to move to the left, thus increasing the spring pressure. By moving the sleeve 52 from the intermediate position shown to the left so as, through the levers 50, to move the plate 22 to the right, the clutch can be disengaged at all speeds, while by allowing the sleeve 52 to move to the right the clutch will be engaged at all speeds. The plate 20 is caused to rotate with the plate 22 by pins 30 and the plate 22 is caused to rotate with the flywheel by the links 44 which pass through slots 45 in the plate. Specification 399,421 is referred to.