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. 18, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1995
Sunao Ishihara, Saitama-ken, JP;
Keiji Nemoto, Saitama-ken, JP;
Takahito Takekawa, Saitama-ken, JP;
Hiroshi Wakui, Saitama-ken, JP;
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a planetary differential gear system using helical gears, a clutch is interposed between a carrier for planetary gears and a differential casing, and adapted to be engaged by an axial thrust force produced by a sun gear. First and second axle shafts are provided with splined internal ends which are received in complementary bores of the sun gear and the carrier, respectively. The first axle shaft is received in a bore of the differential casing so as to be freely slidable and rotatable jointly with the sun gear. Therefore, the thrust force produced by the sun gear when a drive input is applied to the differential system can be transmitted to the friction clutch without being obstructed by the friction produced by the splined coupling between the first axle shaft and the sun gear, or disturbed by any unpredictable force of engagement between the first axle shaft and the sun gear. In this case, by providing a suitable arrangement for limiting a movement of the carrier in a direction to engage the clutch within a first prescribed range, it is possible to prevent any metallic contacts in the friction plates of the clutch even when the friction plates are substantially worn out.