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. 03, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 20, 2000
Kevin L. Maurice, Bristol, CT (US);
Steven E. Nyquist, Simsbury, CT (US);
Kenneth G. Bosley, Torrington, CT (US);
Jon L. Masthay, Plantsville, CT (US);
Inertia Dynamics, Inc., Collinsville, CT (US);
Abstract
A soft action clutch uses a helical spring attached to a pulley at one end and free at the other end. In a relaxed state, preferably, the helical spring presses outwardly pushing a brake pad assembly against a fixed outer field cup braking the pulley. To serve as a clutch, a rotor has a pole face to magnetically draw the helical spring towards it. The resulting friction between the rotor and helical spring causes the spring to wrap down on a spring loaded friction disk. The wrap down compresses the friction disk radially, creating two frictional links from the friction disk to the rotor and the pulley, respectively.