Twin Disc Incorporated

James B Black

Horst G Steinhagen

Darwin D Behlke

A bearing arrangement for the drive pinion of a marine transmission or the like reduces deflections of the shaft on which the pinion is mounted. The bearing arrangement mounts the pinion in part on the shaft and in part directly on the transmission housing, thus reducing loads imposed on the shaft by the pinion. The bushing which typically supports the pinion on the drive shaft is eliminated in favor of a first bearing supporting the input end of the pinion in the housing and a second bearing supporting the output end of the pinion on the shaft. Third and fourth bearings support the output and input ends of the shaft in the housing and on the pinion, respectively. Preferably, the first, second, and third bearings comprise single taper roller bearings which permit the points at which the effective loads are imposed on the shaft to be shifted and the running clearances of which are adjusted by a single shim pack. Deflections can be reduced still further by positioning the clutch return spring proximate an outer surface of the clutch.

Bearing arrangement for heavy duty marine transmission

A drive member such as a gear of a pulley cooperates with a pair of clutch elements, each of which has a splined connection with a shaft. One clutch element is axially fixed; the other is shiftable through a small distance towards and from the fixed one. Each clutch element has a conical surface concentric to the shaft that tapers oppositely to the conical surface on the other. The drive member has an inner periphery of larger diameter than the shaft and has oppositely tapering conical surfaces that respectively mate with the conical surfaces on the clutch elements, which thus at all times maintain the drive member coaxial with the shaft and confine it against axial shifting. An actuator urges the shiftable clutch element towards the fixed one to engage the clutch elements with the drive member. A spring biases the clutch elements apart so that the mating conical surfaces can serve as bearings lubricated by oil delivered through the shaft.

Cone clutch transmission

The driving member of this torsional impulse damper is a disc-like plate, coaxially securable at its peripheral portions to an engine flywheel. The driven member comprises two carrier elements, at opposite sides of the driving member, rigidly connected at bosses that are spaced from the rotational axis and extend through larger holes in the driving member. Friction surfaces on inner faces of the carrier elements engage the opposite flat faces of the driving member. Cooperating with the friction surfaces to maintain the driving and driven members coaxial is a coaxial trunnion on one carrier element projecting into a bearing fitted in a central hole in the driving member. The carrier elements cooperate to enclose springs that react between the driving and driven members. A universal joint at one end of a drive shaft is directly connected to one of the carrier elements.

Torsional impulse damper for direct connection to universal joint drive

A propulsion transmission for a ship having a reversibly driven propeller shaft with a fixed pitch propeller and a torque converter of the single stage and fixed housing type for driving the propeller in the reverse direction. A planetary gear system is provided for driving the ship in a forward direction and a disengageable friction plate type brake is connected between the transmission housing and the planetary gear system and for forward drive. The brake is engaged to anchor a portion of the planetary gear system to drive said propeller shaft in a forward direction. The brake is disengaged when the torque converter is driving the propeller shaft in the reverse direction. One embodiment of the invention also includes a friction plate type clutch connected between the planetary gear system and the propeller shaft for transmitting power to the propeller shaft in a forward direction when the brake is disengaged. The clutch and brake are concentrically located with respect to one another in an axially compact arrangement.

Marine propulsion system

A multiple, interleaved friction plate clutch has a clutch pack including a plurality of externally toothed clutch plates and a plurality of internally toothed clutch plates which are interleaved with said externally toothed clutch plates. Hydraulically actuated means are provided for clamping said interleaved plates together to provide a releasable driving connection, whereby said plates may be shifted between a clutch clamp-up position and a clutch released position in which said plates are separated from one another and have relative rotation therebetween. A plurality of axially extending rods are circumferentially spaced around and located adjacent the outer periphery of the externally toothed clutch plates, and a plurality of axially extending rods are circumferentially spaced around and located adjacent the inner periphery of the internally toothed clutch plates. Sets of rods have a connection with their respective clutch plate, so that when the clutch is released, the rods hold their respective plates normal to the axis of rotation of the clutch and prevent the plates from wobbling.

Interleaved friction plate clutch having means to prevent plate wobble

A hydraulically controlled transmission for vehicles such as heavy-duty, high horsepower, off-highway trucks, the transmission having a plurality of selectively engagable change speed gears and hydraulically actuated friction type clutches for selectively engaging the gears to provide various speed ratios for the vehicle. The transmission includes a hydraulic control circuit in communication with the clutches and a rotary range selector valve is located in the circuit and driven in step-by-step increments by a geneva wheel drive means. The arrangement insures that the transmission can be shifted at only one speed range at a time and that an engaged speed range will be released before another speed range is engaged.

Hydraulically controlled power transmission having friction plate

A friction plate clutch for attachment to an internal combustion engine is protected against vibration induced wear of loosely interfitted parts thereof by spring devices which keep the parts yieldingly in firm contact with each other.

Vibration resistant mechanical clutch

A torque converter comprises a stationary housing within which a rotatable impeller is mounted for driving a rotatable turbine. The bladed impeller is mounted on an engine driven input shaft, and the bladed turbine is mounted on an output shaft on the same axis as the input shaft. The impeller blades and turbine blades move through an annular oil-filled passage. A plurality of stator blades are disposed in the passage in spaced-apart radial arrangement around the axis of the shafts. Eah stator blade is divided into two sections, namely, a fixed forward section and an adjustably movable or pivotable rear section. Means are provided to pivot the rear sections of all of the stator blades simultaneously so as to vary the width of the flow channel between each pair of adjacent stator blades between fully opened and fully closed positions and any position therebetween to thereby control the amount of oil available for use by the impeller and turbine and thereby enable regulation of the power output of the torque converter. The movable rear section of each stator blade is provided with a stem which extends through a sealed opening in the stationary housing and enables pivotal adjustment of the rear section of the stator blade about the axis of the stem. The stem axes are parallel to the shaft axes. Each stem is provided on the end thereof exteriorly of the housing with a rigidly attached small gear which meshes with a large ring gear exteriorly of the housing. Actuator means are provided exteriorly of the housing to adjustably rotate the ring gear in opposite directions to effect simultaneous adjusting movement of the rear section of all stator blades. The actuator means comprise a manually operable power assisted actuator and a power assist assembly.

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Roscoe, IL, United States of America

James B Black