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:
Jun. 05, 1984
Filed:
Nov. 13, 1980
Royston C Lunn, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
J Edwin MacAfee, Grosse Ile, MI (US);
Robert C Grabowski, Dearborn Heights, MI (US);
Dennis N Renneker, Troy, MI (US);
John M Winkler, Temperance, MI (US);
American Motors Corporation, Southfield, MI (US);
Abstract
A vehicle axle for use in a vehicle having both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive operating modes. The vehicle axle includes a pair of flanged axle shafts interconnected through an axle differential. One of the shafts has inner and outer sections which can be selectively coupled and uncoupled through a shiftable clutch collar to obtain four-wheel drive mode of operation or two-wheel drive mode of operation, respectively. The shifting of the clutch collar is effected by a vacuum motor which is responsive to a control signal to cause the collar to shift between positions for mode selection. The vacuum motor has a flexural diaphragm whose displacements are transmitted through linkage to the clutch collar to effect its shifting. In the two-wheel drive operating mode, the outer section of the axle shaft is not coupled to the inner section and rotates freely under the influence of its associated wheel. The inner section of the axle shaft, the axle differential, and the other axle shaft all rotate under the influence of the opposite wheel. In the four-wheel drive operating mode, the shaft sections are coupled for cooperative rotation of the wheels through the axle differential.