GB445608A - Automatic clutch - Google Patents

Abstract

445,608. Clutches; operating clutches; motor vehicles. KREIS, F., 2, Wachterstrasse, Nuremberg, Germany. Oct. 8, 1934, No. 375/36. Divided out of 445,770 under which a Specification was laid open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, April 8, 1935. [Class 80 (ii)] [See also Group XXXI] In a motor-vehicle clutch having friction and positive clutch elements operated centrifugally in succession, driver-actuated means are provided for independently moving the elements into the operative position. As shown in Fig. 1, springs 9 are interposed, in radial openings in a driving member 2, between balls 8 and slidable sleeves 12. The latter abut against the ends of friction segments 13, each fitted with a central flexible plate, whereby the balls, as they move outwards under centrifugal action, act through the springs 9 to apply the segments 13 against a driven drum 14, producing a frictional drive. At higher speeds, dogs 16 actuated directly by the balls 8 are moved outwards sufficiently to engage recesses 17 in the drum, and a positive drive ensues. The dogs and recesses are chamfered on their trailing edges. A spring-pressed sleeve 27, rotating with the member 14 and slidable within the hub of the member 2 under the control of a pedal 32, has a coned end coacting with auxiliary balls 7 so that, on depression of the pedal, the dogs 16 are engaged or held in the recesses 17. The pedal also controls the vehicle brakes through an arm 34. In the form shown in Fig. 4, weighted arms Sb pivotally carried by the member 2 act centrifugally through slides 10<b> on the springs 9 and dogs 16, the arms being also controlled by the coned end of a sleeve 130 slidable on the driving shaft 2<a>. The sleeve 130 is controlled by a lever 132 which coacts with a cam plate 135 formed on a pedal 136 pivoted at 150. An arm 138, Fig. 5, moving with the pedal coacts with a spring-pressed arm 139 which has a slot engaged by a pin on a pivot 140, to which latter is secured an arm 142 connected to the engine throttle. As the pedal is depressed, during the first part of the movement a concentric surface a of the plate 135 coacts with the lever 132 and no movement of the latter occurs. But during this movement, the arm 138 acts gradually to increase the throttle opening to the maximum. On further movement of the pedal, the arm 138 slips from the arm 139 and the throttle closes, while the part 137 of the plate 135 coacts with the lever 132 to move the sleeve 130 so as to hold the dogs 16 engaged. Thereafter, the concentric surface b of the plate 135 serves to maintain the sleeve 130 in this position, while a connection 146 from the pedal applies the vehicle brakes. The upper arm of a loose weighted lever 149 has a slot receiving a depending arm 152 of the lever 132 whereby, when the vehicle is descending a gradient, the sleeve 130 is automatically moved towards the levers 8<b>. An adjustable screw 153 in one wall of the slot determines the precise gradient at which this occurs.