US1165966A - Power-transmission mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

E. A. HALBLEIB.

POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5,1913.

1,165,966. Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

Figgoilo Ffigoio UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. HALBLEIB, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH EAST ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER,

YORK.

NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW POWER-TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

Application filed May 5, 1913. Serial No. 765,714.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Emvlxno A. HALBLEIB; a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power- Transmission Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism or gearing which is adapted to transmit power from one to the other of two devices, such as an engine and an electric generator, so that either of said devices may actuate the other, but at speed-ratios differing according as one or the other device constitutes the source of power. Mechanism of this type is frequently employed in connection with a system in which an internal-combustionifengine and an electric generator are employed, the engine, during its normal operation, driving the generator to produce electricity and charge a storage-battery, while the generator may be employed, when necessary, as an electric motor to start the operation of the engine.

In my pending application for Letters Patent of the United States filed February 4, 1913, Serial No. 747,185, I have disclosed mechanism of the type in question, this mechanism including a shiftable clutchmember which is moved to one position or another, according as the gearing is tobe employed to transmit power from one to the other of the devices cooperating therewith, and the present invention relates particularly to improvements in the mechanism shown in said application. In that mechanism the shiftable clutch-member is provided with teeth adapted to cooperate with teeth upon a rotary element which constitutes the means whereby the gearing may be connected with an engine, and the clutchteeth in question are beveled in order that they may have an automatic disengaging action when the shiftable clutch-member tendsto overrun said rotary element, in

order that it may be possible for the motorgenerator at all times to freely overrun the engine. When the engine is running slowly, however, its speed of rotation fluctuates with each pulsation of the engine, with the result that more or less back-lash and chattering may occur between the beveled clutchteeth.

One object of the present invention is to Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

avoid this result, and to this end I introduce, in the present gearing, a roller-wedge clutch which is adapted to accommodate itself to such slight inequalities in the driving-motion without noise or jar, and which permits the use of square or abrupt engaging-members or teeth, on the shiftable clutch-member, which may be fitted closely so as to avoid any substantial play or backlashing when the clutch-members are in engagement.

In the gearing of my said application the arrangement of the clutch-members, and of the speed-reducing gears through which the motor-generator actuates the engine, is such that in case of a premature explosion or back-kick in the engine the gearing may operate to arrest the forward movement of the armature of the motor-generator, and.

throw it into rapid rotation in the reverse direction. This action subjects the mechanism and the armature to a severe strain, and it has the further disadvantage of subjecting the clutch-mechanism to a severe strain in case the shifting clutch-member is shifted while the armature is still rotating reversely.

Accordingly, another object of the invention is to protect the mechanism against the strains just described, and to this end I interpose, between the generator-shaft and the rotary element of the gearing to which it is connected, a friction-coupling or slip-device which connects the parts with suflicient force to secure them against relative rotation during normal operation of the apparatus, but

which will yield un der the unusual conditions arising in consequence of a back-kick in the engine. In case of such a back-kick this friction-coupling operates, in the first place, to yield when the movement of the gearing is first reversed, so that the rotation of the armature is not so suddenly arrested and reversed; and it has the further advantage that after the rotation of the armature has been so reversed, and the shiftable clutchmember is thrown into cooperation with the engine-connected rotary element, the inertia of the armature in its reverse rotation is ab sorbed principally by the slip-connection, so

as to relieve the clutch-mechanism from Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 in Fig. 1, looking from right to left in the latter figure; Fig. 3 is a left-hand elevation of the shiftable clutch-member; and Fig. 4 is a side-elevation of the combined frictioncoupling and Oldham coupling.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a power-transmission mechanism which is similar, in general, to the mechanism or gearing of my said application. It comprises two coaxial shafts or rotary elements, which are hereinafter designated, for convenience, as the primary rotary element and the secondary rotary element. The primary rotary element, as shown in Fig. 1, is a shaft 5, which may be connected, in any convenient manner, with the engine with which the mechanism is to be employed. This shaft is journaled in a casing 7, by means of ball-bearings 8. The secondary rotary element is a shaft 6, also mounted in the casing coaXially with the shaft 5, the lefthand end of the shaft 6 having a reduced portion 17 which is journaled in a central recess in the shaft 5, while the shaft 6 is also supported, through an intermediate concentric element hereinafter described, by a ballbearing 9 mounted in the casing. A third rotary element, coaxial with the elements 5 and 6, is in the form of a shaft 10, which may be, and is illustrated as, the armatureshaft of the motor-generator which cotiperates with the power-transmission mechanism.

The speed-reducing gears, through which the motor-generator may actuate the primary rotary element and the engine, comprise a pinion 11, which is journaled loosely upon the shaft 6 and supported directly by the ball-bearing 9, this pinion, in turn, serving as a bearing for the direct support of the shaft 6, as shown in Fig. 1. The pinion 11 meshes with a gear 12, which is journaled loosely upon a countershaft 13 fixed in the casing 7. Integral with the gear 12 is a second pinion 14, which meshes with a gear 15 concentric with the shaft 5, this gear being supported upon and connected with the shaft 5 by means of a roller-wedge clutch, through which the gear may drive the shaft. The shaft 5 is provided with an enlarged portion or shell 19 at its inner end, this shell having recesses 26 with inclined surfaces with which rollers 27 coiiperate. These roll-i ers engage a smooth internal clutch-surface 28 on the gear 15, and they are controlled by spring-pressed plates 29, which tend to move them toward the shallowest arts of the recesses 26. The rollers are old in the recesses 26 by snap-rings 45, which are omitted from Fig. 2 for the sake of clearness. The arrangement of these parts, as shown in Fig. 2, is such that when the motor-generator rotates in its normal direction, and acts as an electric motor, the gears and the clutchmembers are moved in the direction of the messes one hand, or the direct connection between the shaft 6 and the shaft '5 on the other hand, a 'shiftable clutch-member is employed, this member being slidably mounted upon a square portion 16 of the shaft 6. This clutch-member has a transverse recess 24 which may cotiperate with corresponding teeth 25 upon the left-hand end of the pinion 11, one of these teeth being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. When the engine is to be started the clutch-member 18 is shifted to the right, so as to engage the teeth 25, and the pinion 11 may then be rotated, as above described, by the shaft 6. After the engine has been started, however, the clutch-member 18 is moved to the left, to disengage the teeth 25, and in its left-hand position it cotiperates with clutchmembers through which the shaft 5 may rotate the shaft 6 to drive the motor-generator. Upon the left-hand face of the clutch-member 18' are clutch-teeth 23, shown in Fig. 3. These teeth are adapted to onage a transverse recess 22 (see Fig. 2) formed in a clutch-member 20, which is located within the enlargement or shell 19 on the shaft 5. The clutch-member 20 constitutes an element of a roller-wedge clutch, being provided, as shown in Fig. 2, with a series of inclined recesses containing rollers 21. These rollers engage a smooth clutchsurface on the inside of the shell 19, and when the shaft 5 and the shell 19 are rotated in the normal direction by the engine the rollers act to grip the clutch-member 20 and cause it to rotate with the shaft 5. With the shiftable clutch-member 18 in the position shown in Fig. 1 this rotation of the clutch-member causes the clutchmember 18 and the shaft 6 to rotate in unison with the shaft 5, and the shaft 6, in turn, rotates the armature-shaft 10, through the slip-connection hereinafter described, thus actuating th'e motor-generator and causing it to generate electricity. During this action of the power-transmission mechanism, if the speed of the engine becomes very much reduced and its rotation irregular, the momentary retardations in the speed of the shaft 5 are absorbed by the automatic overrunning action of the clutchmember 20, which is permitted by the frictional engagement of the rollers 21 with the member 19; while )at each succeeding acceleration of the shaft 5 these rollers take hold. without noise or lost motion, to drive the clutch-member and the other parts. Owing to this arrangement the clutch-teeth 23, and the recess 22 with which they cooperate, may be made with abrupt or square engaging-surfaces, as shown in Fig. 1, so that no back-lash or lost motion occurs between them. The teeth 23 may, however, be slightly beveled at their ends, as shown, to facilitate their engagement with the recess 22 when the clutch member 18 is shifted as above described.

Any convenient means maybe employed for shifting the clutch-member 18, but I have illustrated means for this purpose similar to those disclosed in'my said application. The clutch-men'iber 18 is provided with an annular flange 30, which is embraced by the slotted end of an arm 31. This arm is fixed to a 'rod 32, which is guided to slide horizontally in the casing and is forced in one direction by means of a spring 33 coiled around the rod. The arm 31 and the rod are moved in the opposite direction by means of an arm 43, which engages the hub of the arm 31 and swings about a vertical axis. The arm 43 is moved manually in any convenient manner. In my said application I illustrated an electric switch and mechanism for actuating simultaneously this switch and the arm 43. A similar arrangement may be employed in the present case, and I have shown a casing 44 mounted on the top of the easing 7 and adapted to contain the switch. Upon the top of the casing 44 is an arm 35 adapted for manual operation, and the connections between this arm and the arm 43 are illustrated diagrammatically by' broken lines 34.

The slip-connection between the shafts 6 and 10 is shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The shaft 6 has a squared portion 36 upon which is mounted a shell 37 with a conical inner surface. A conical friction-member 38 cooperates with the member 37, and is pressed constantly against it by means of a spring 39 coiled about the shaft 36. The lefthand end of this spring engages a shoulder on the member 38, while its right-hand end is seated against a collar 40 screwed upon the shaft 6. The slip-connection is shown as combined with an Oldham coupling to compensate for slight variations in the axial positions of the shafts 6 and 10. To this end a coupling-member 42 is keyed upon the shaft 10, and an intermediate or floating coupling-member 41 is interposed between the members 38 and 42, these three parts having the usual inter-engaging tongues and grooves characteristic of an Oldham coupling.

During the normal operation of the mechanism the friction between the parts 37 and 38 is sufficient to prevent any relative rotation, and to cause the shaft 6 to drive the shaft 10 or vice versa. Upon any sudden and powerful reversal in the directlon of movement of the shaft 6, however, the slipconnection yields, the part 38 rotating within the part 37, so that no severe strain can be imparted either to or from the generatorshaft 10. I

My invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it may be embodied in variousother forms within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, a primary rotary element; a secondary rotary element coaxial therewith; gear-connections between said elements whereby the secondary element may actuate the primary element at a reduced speed; and means for connecting said elements to permit the primary element to actuate the secondary element without change of speed, said means comprising a shiftable clutch having one member connected with one of the rotary elements; and

' an overrunning clutch connecting the other member of the shiftable clutch with the other rotary element.

2. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, an engine-connected rotary element; a generator-connected rotary element; means, for connecting said elements to permit the engine-connected element to drive the generator-connected element, including an overrunning clutch to permit the generator-connected element to overrun the engine-connected element; and means cooperating with a portion of said first named means, for connecting the rotary elements independently of said overrunning clutch, to permit the generator-connected element to drive the engine-connected element.

3. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, an engine-connected rotary element; a generator-connected rotary element; means, including a manually-operable clutch, for connecting said elements to permit the engine-connected element to drive the generator-connected element, said means including also an overrunning clutch to permit the generator-connected element to overrun the engine-connected element; and means, cooperating with said manuallyoperable clutch, for connecting said elements to permit the generator-connected element to drive the engine-connected element, said means including also an overrunning clutch to permit the engine-connected element to overrun the generator-connected element.

4. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, three rotary elements; gear ing and an overrunning clutch through which the secondary rotary element may actuate the primary rotary element atreduced speed, While the overrunning clutch permits the primary rotary element to overrun the gearing; a shiftable clutch operable to connect the secondary rotary element alternatively with said gearing, for the purpose aforesaid, or with the primary rotary element, independently of the gearing, to permit the primary rotary element to actuate the secondary rotary element; and slip-connections between the secondary rotary element and the third, rotary element, said connections being yieldable to a force greater than that encountered in the normal operation of the mechanism.

l 5. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, an engine-connected rotary element; a generator-connected rotary element; and means for connecting said elements to permit either to drive the other, said means including an overrunning clutch, through which the engine-connected element drives the generator-connected element but which permits the latter to overrun the former, and a manually operable clutch through which the generator-connected element may drive the engine-connected element. A

6. Power-transmission mechanism having, in combination, an engine-connected rotary element; a generator-connected rotary e1ement; and means for connecting said elements to permit either to drive the other, said means including an overrunning clutch through which the engine-connected element drivs the generator-connected element, but Which permits the latter to overrun the former, a second overrunning clutch through which the engine-connected element may be driven by the generator-connected element but which permits the former to overrun the latter, and manually operable clutch-members by Which the connecting-means may be thrown into operation for the two described functions alternatively.

FARNUM F. D. Grnnnnn.

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