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:
Oct. 25, 1994
Filed:
Dec. 21, 1992
Eugene R Braun, Royal Oak, MI (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
An axle assembly (11) is provided of the type including independent co-axial first (95) and second (103) axle shafts driven by first (89) and second (91) ring gears in mesh, respectively, with first (73) and second (75) drive pinion gears. The assembly includes a differential (23) including a first side gear (31) which drives the pinion gear (73), and a second gear (37) which drives the pinion gear (75). The assembly defines a pair of torque paths which are arranged generally in a mirror image about an axis of rotation (A) of the axle shafts. The differential (23) can be smaller and less expensive because it is located on the 'low-torque' upstream side of the pinion gear-ring gear reductions. By dividing total drive torque into two parallel torque paths, each pinion gear and ring gear, and their associated bearings can be substantially smaller and less expensive. Finally, the arrangement disclosed makes it possible to have a number of differential gear mesh frequencies, each transmitting only one-half of the total torque, resulting in substantially reduced noise generation.