GB923494A - Improvements in or relating to flexible couplings - Google Patents

Abstract

923,494. Universal joints. BIRFIELD ENGINEERING Ltd. July 21, 1959 [July 25, 1958], No. 24023/58. Class 80 (2). A universal joint of the type comprising a flexible disc adapted to be bolted to spiders on the shafts which it connects has the flexible disc moulded from a synthetic plastic material with localized thickenings surrounding its bolt holes, between which there are separate layers of the synthetic material. As shown, a flexible disc 3, 4 is made with localized thickening 3a, 4a around bolt holes and is connected by pairs of bolts 5, 5 to shafts 2a, 7. The disc is moulded from synthetic plastic material and consists of two similar parts 3, 4 arranged back-to-back. Reinforcement may be embodied in the disc and may be constituted by, e.g., glass fibre, in staple or woven form, or may itself comprise a further synthetic plastic material. When the disc is made from reinforced plastic, it is moulded from a plastic material such as a polyester resin, and when made from non- reinforced plastic material it is formed of a high strength plastic material such as nylon, i.e. a synthetic linear polyamide. The disc may consist of a number of laminµ of the plastic material. The holes receiving the bolts 5 in the disc 3, 4 may be further reinforced by metal bushes moulded therein. In the form shown, the shaft 2a constitutes a hub splined upon the end of a shaft and secured to the spigot end 8 thereof by a nut 9 lying within a flange 6 flashbutt welded to the shaft 7, the arrangement being such that, should the disc 3, 4 fail, the nut 9 lying within the flange 6 prevents the shafts from falling apart. According to the Provisional Specification, the disc may comprise a plurality of laminµ of the plastic material in woven form, the laminµ being bonded together, or may comprise a single thickness of material.