GB602586A - Hydraulic clutch or coupling - Google Patents

Abstract

602,586. Hydraulic clutches. HINDMARCH, T. Sept. 18, 1944, No. 17807. [Class 69 (ii)] A hydraulic clutch comprises an input member and an output member, a fluid circuit associated with said input member and said output member through which, under one condition, fluid is allowed to flow freely between the two members to permit free relative rotation of the members, and under another condition, fluid is prevented from flowing between the two members to prevent such relative rotation, a control box comprising a fluid inlet channel from the source of supply of the fluid to a non- return valve in said inlet channel, a fluid outlet channel to said source of fluid, a non-return valve in said outlet channel, a control valve associated with said inlet and outlet channels and having passage ways leading to and from the fluid circuit to control a flow of fluid through the fluid circuit and to and from the source of supply of fluid, and a relief valve to control the pressure to which the fluid can rise in the said fluid circuit. Blocks 3, Fig. 1, slidable in radial slots in a driving disc 1 support pins 4 carrying segmental pump members 5 adapted to rotate in an eccentric recess 6 in a housing 7 forming part of an output shaft 8. Operating fluid supplied to an inlet passage 9 in a valve assembly 10 flows past a non-return valve 12, a control valve 11 through passages 13, 14 and a circumferential slot 16 to the spaces between the segments 5 and is delivered through a similar opposite slot to a port 19 and channel 20 leading to a non-return valve and a pressure relief valve having an escape passage 24 communicating with a reservoir for the operating fluid. The path offers resistance to the flow of the fluid and the output shaft 8 is driven by the disc 1. On turning the valve 11 through a right angle, the fluid passage therethrough bridges the passages 13, 20 isolating the non-return valves and allowing free passage of the fluid ; the coupling is then disengaged. The disc 1, Fig. 6, may form part of the shell of a pinion or gear wheel, the shell enclosing two sets, oppositely arranged, of blocks 3 and segments 5 or the segments may be replaced by simple vanes carried by the housing 7. In another form, gears 58, Fig. 15, rotated by teeth 56a on the inside of the outer ring 56, replace the segments 5.