The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 23, 1980
Filed:
Jan. 26, 1979
Richard L Hedgcock, East Peoria, IL (US);
Gerald E Whitehurst, East Peoria, IL (US);
Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, IL (US);
Abstract
A geared steering clutch mechanism (18) for use in a vehicle having left and right side propelling devices (11,12) such as tracks, a power drive (16), and a final drive (15) connecting the power drive to the respective left and right propelling devices. The steering clutch mechanism includes a first clutch (24) selectively operable to connect the power drive to the associated final drive to provide a high speed connection therebetween, a speed reduction gear assembly (55,56,58), a second clutch (45) selectively operable to connect the power drive to the associated final drive through the speed reduction gear assembly to provide a reduced speed connection therebetween, and a brake (38) for braking the final drive concurrently with arranging the clutches to positively disconnect the power drive from the final drive. The final drive may be a multispeed drive so that the use of the clutch mechanism provides a two-time multiplication of the number of available output speeds as a function of the selective operation of the clutches. The speed reduction gear assembly may include a planetary gear (56) in meshing engagement with a sun gear (55) connected to the second clutch. The first clutch may be arranged to provide a substantially direct one-to-one driving connection between the power drive and final drive.