GB593078A - Improvements in or relating to friction clutch or brake devices - Google Patents

Abstract

593,078. Friction clutches. CROFT, A. Oct. 23, 1944, Nos. 20512 and 20513. FClass 80(ii)] [Also in Group XXXIV] In a friction clutch or brake of the kind in which segmental shoes 7, carried in an annular trough 11 in one member 4, are urged radially inwards (or outwards) into frictional engagement with a surface 3 of the other member 1, by applying fluid-pressure through a conduit 14 to the interior of a continuous or segmental distensible annulus 6 of flexible material, and the ends of the shoes 7 engage torque-bars 8 extending transversely across the trough, the torque-bars 8 are of trapezoidal cross-section and the abutting end-faces of the friction shoes 7 are correspondingly inclined to ensure free radial movement of the shoes into the engaging position. The ends of the torquebars 8 are trunnioned in the side-walls of the trough 11 and the bars may have a reduced mid-section on the non-driving side (Fig. 5, not shown), to permit circumferential resilience. The shoes are interlocked axially with the distensible annulus 6 by a radial. tongue-and-groove connection 18 and can move axially in the trough to a limited extent against the resilience of the annulus, which latter has axially projecting ribs 17 engaging the side-walls of the trough, and may have recesses, grooves or pockets to increase its resilience. Blade-springs 18a, supported freely on the torque-bars 8, act on the adjacent overhanging ends 19a of the shoes 7 to disengage them.