Warn Industries, Inc.

Christopher J Walter

Evan R Baker

Thomas F Dunlap

Mark J Fogelberg

Michael L McMorris

A clutch mechanism for a vehicle drive train wherein a drive member and driven member are inter-engaged by pawls. In the preferred embodiment the driven member surrounds the drive member in concentric relationship and provides facing surfaces that are configured to receive pairs of pawls or pawl portions selectively extended from the drive member surface to the driven member surface. A control member is mounted on the drive member with limited rotation relative to the rotation of the drive member. The control member includes a cam slot and the pawls are provided with laterally extended cam follower tabs that extend into the cam slots. The control member is provided with a rotationally retarding means whereby whichever direction the drive member rotates, the control member is shifted to the trailing position within the range of permitted rotation. The pawl pairs carried by the drive member are thus positioned at differing positions relative to the cam slots and the cam slots dictate which pawls are projected into engagement with the driven member.

Pawl clutch

A bi-directional overrunning pawl-type clutch having a driving member mounted for power rotation, a driven member mounted for rotation adjacent the driving member, with each of the driving and driven members having pawl engaging shoulders, and a plurality of rigid pawls interposed between the driving and driven members. A control element is mounted for shifting movement between the driving and driven members to control the position of the pawls which are yieldably biased toward positions of engagement extending between the driving and driven members to produce driving engagement therebetween. The control element is shiftable to various positions to permit driving and overrunning in one direction or driving and overrunning in the opposite direction dependent upon the direction of rotation of the driving member.

Overrunning pawl clutch

A transfer case for a vehicle having two output shafts, a gear reduction assembly, a coupling mechanism and an overrunning roller clutch for selectively producing driving of one shaft only or both shafts concurrently. The coupling mechanism selectively couples one output shaft to either (1) an input shaft, (2) the gear reduction assembly, or (3) a neutral position. The overrunning clutch has an inner race, an outer race, and rollers located between the races. Drag shoes are positioned to frictionally slide on a drag surface of a selectively grounded member to retard the rollers. A resilient band urges the drag shoes against the drag surface. When the drag shoes rotate at a sufficient speed they disengage from the drag surface so as to provide no force to retard the rollers. When the ground member is grounded it provides the drag surface for the drag shoes. When the ground member is ungrounded it is free to rotate and the drag shoes do not provide a drag force to bias the rollers. A latch may be coupled to the inner race to engage a roller cage to prevent high speed lock-up. A drag ring is located inside the outer race and provides a drag force on the rollers to advance the rollers when it is desired, e.g., when front wheel compression braking is advantageous. An actuator assembly is provided with a variable speed drive for shifting the transfer case between modes of operation.

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

Christopher J Walter