GB848600A - Improvements relating to freewheel devices - Google Patents

Abstract

848,600. Ratchet clutches. DAIMLERBENZ A.G. July 8, 1958 [July 10, 1957], No. 21885/58. Class 80 (2). A ratchet clutch for use in a gas turbine in a motor car or the like, comprises a driving hub 10 formed with frusto-cylindrical recesses 13 within which are rotatable clutch rollers 14 having arcuate faces 17 and constructed with their centres of gravity eccentric to the centre of curvature of their cylindrical faces, e.g. as by the removal of segments 18, rotation of the driving-hub 10 at a high speed anticlockwise of Fig. 1 causing the rollers 14 to turn under the influence of centrifugal force so that the arcuate surfaces 17 engage in recesses 19 formed in a driven ring 12 to transmit drive thereto. If the driven ring 12 tends to overrun the driving-hub 10, the rollers 14 are turned back to their disengaged position against the bias of centrifugal force, and free relative rotation between the driving and driven parts takes place. The driven ring 12 is journalled upon the driving hub 10 by a bearing 16, and a ring 15 holds the rollers 14 laterally in the position. The segments 18 removed from the rollers 14 to make their centre of gravity eccentric to the main axes of the rollers do not extend to the ends of the rollers, which therefore are solid. In modifications, Figs. 3 ... 8 (not shown), the eccentric weighting of the rollers is effected by the removal of additional bores of metal therefrom or by the insertion of pins of heavy metal, and the rollers are formed with pins at each end engaging corresponding holes in the driving-hub 10. Turning of the rollers 14 in one or both directions under the influence of centrifugal force may be limited by stops.