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:
Jan. 23, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 18, 1998
Richard Arthur Lindsay, Eye, GB;
Robin Andrew Sayer, Bury St. Edmunds, GB;
Vitec Group, PLC, Suffolk, GB;
Abstract
The disclosure relates to a rotary drag device having relatively rotatable members one (,) of which has a stack (,) of closely spaced, thin-walled flexible annular plates (,) peripherally mounted thereon to provide annular running faces and a viscous fluid filling the spaces between the plates, and the other (,) of which members has a stack (,) of segmental plates (,) having part-annular running faces interleaved with the annular plates to slide between the plates with relative rotation of the members. Slits (,) in the annular plates permit release of viscous fluid from between the plates as fluid pressure rises ahead of the segmental plates with increasing relative speed between the members. The flexibility of the annular plates allowing the plates to close together accommodating the loss of viscous fluid from between the plates whereby the damping characteristic of the device can vary between viscous drag between the relative running surfaces of the annular and segmental plates at low relative speeds of the members and, with loss of viscous fluid from between the plates, can change to boundary lubrication between the running surfaces of the respective plates at higher relative speeds of rotation of the members.