Title of Invention

A DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A drive mechanism for a motor vehicle, provided with forward and reverse gear facility, comprising the said driven wheel fast mounted on the axle shaft; the housing loose mounted on the axle shaft allowing free rotation of the axle shaft; the muffcup connected to axle shaft by a two way clutch arrangement. said clutch consisting of a plurality of rollers arranged on the axle shaft and held in a slot, said roller also contacting the surface of the muff cup; a washer with a stopper projection held along with the said clutch by a spring; the stopper projection being engageable with a slot in the housing allowing lim ited angular movement.

Full Text

This invention relates a drive mechanism for the wheel of a motor vehicle, more particularly, the wheel of a motor vehicle driven by the engine, the said motor vehicle having reverse gear facility, in addition to the forward gear facility. Power from the engine is taken to the driven wheel of the motor vehicle in several known ways, such as, by a chain and sprocket, muff up driven shaft, axle shaft and so on. In the conventional forms of these drives, the drive members become an integral part of the wheel assembly, rotating along with the driven wheel. Fig. 1 illustrates a typical driven wheel of a motor vehicle having reverse gear driven by a muff cup 6. The wheel 1 is fast mounted on the axle shaft 2, such as, by the bolts 3. The housing 4 is mounted on the axle shaft 2 by means, such as, bearing 5 which allows free rotation of the axle shaft 2. The muff cup 6 is integrally connected to the axle shaft 2 by means, such as, the spines 6A. Power from the engine reaches the muff cup 6 driving the axle shaft 2 through spline 6A. Depending upon the direction of rotation of the muff cup 6 the vehicle moves forward or backward. During coasting, the wheel 1 drives the axle shaft 2 , thus rotating the muff cup 6, allowing power flow to the engine. The major disadvantage of the known arrangement, as outlined above, is that the engine and the driven wheel are coupled in both directions. It does not prevent power flow from the wheel to the engine. The engine is coupled to the driven wheel during coasting, consuming fuel although the throttle input is cut off This unnecessarily increases the fuel consumption of the vehicle. Furthermore the torque reversals results in reduced life of the drive train components through out the power train. The drive mechanism proposed herein has for its principal object to prevent the power flow from the driven wheel to the engine both during forward and reverse driving conditions. According to this invention, the drive mechanism for a motor vehicle, provided with forward and reverse gear facility, comprises a driven wheel fast mounted on a axle shaft; a housing loose mounted on the axle shaft allowing free rotation of the axle shaft; a muff cup connected to the axle shaft by a two way clutch arrangement consisting of a plurality of rollers arranged on the axle shaft and held in a slot, said rollers also contacting the surface of the muff cup; a washer with a stopper projection held along with the said clutch by a spring; the stopper projection being engage able with a slot in the housing allowing limited angular movement. This invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate in Fig. 1 a known drive arrangement already referred to herein above Fig. 2 an embodiment of the drive mechanism proposed herein , by way of example, and not by way of lim itation. Fig. 3 illustrates details of the two way clutch of the said embodiment Figs 4 and 5 illustrate respectively the operation of the two way clutch in forward and reverse gear. Referrmg to Figs.2 to 5 of the drawings, wheel 11 is fast mounted on the axle shaft 21 such as by the bolts 31. The housing 41 is loose mounted on the axle shaft 21 by means such as the bearing 51 allowing free rotation of the axle shaft 21. The muff cup 61 is connected to the axle shaft 21 using a two way clutch arrangement 71. The said two way chinch consists of a plurality of rollers 81 arranged on the axle shaft diameter 21A and held in the slot 71A. The rollers are also in contact with the surface 71 B which is an integral part of the muff cup 61. A washer 91 with a stopper projection 91A is held along with the two way clutch 71 using spring 101. The washer 91 moves along with the two way clutch 71 due to friction clamping if not restricted.. If restricted, the washer 91 has a relative rotation with respect to the two way clutch 71. The stopper projection 91 A gels engaged in the housing slot 41A which allows only a limited angular motion. Fig. 3 shows the details of a two way clutch 71. The two way clutch operation in forward and reverse gear is explained with reference to Figs. 4 and 5 . In the forward gear when the muff cup 61 rotates clockwise, the washer 91 gets arrested when the stopper projection 91A contacts housing slot 41A as shown in Fig. 4 The further rotation of the muff cup 61 results in the contact between roller 81 and shaft diameter 21 and muff cup surface 71B. The frictional resistance between the washer 91 and two way clutch 71 holds the rollers 81 in this position. Now further rotation of muff cup 61 clockwise results in clutching of shaft 21 by the rollers and hence shaft 21 rotates along with the muff cup 61. Contrarily, if the shaft 21 starts rotating faster than the muff cup 61 roller 81 slips and hence the muff cup 61 is free allowing shaft 21 to free wheel. When the reverse gear is actuated, the washer 91 moves along with the muff cup 61 in the counter clockwise direction as shown in Fig.5 till the stopper projection 91Acontacts the housing slot 41A. Again the roller 81 is held between the muff cup surface 71B and shaft diameter 21A. The frictional resistance between washer 91 and two way clutch 71 holds the rollers 81 in this position. Now further rotation of muff cup 61 counter clockwise results in clutching of shaft 21 by the rollers 81 and hence the shaft 21 rotates along with the muff cup 61. The foregoing arrangement prevents the driven wheel driving the engine and thus prevents engine operation when the throttle is cut off. At the same time the drive mechanism allows the engine to drive the driven wheel in both directions. Thus fuel economy of the vehicle is increased. Also the life of the drive train components is increased as the torque variation is reduced from totally reversed case to unidirectional variations. It will be appreciated that the drive mechanism proposed herein is not convened to the embodiment herein described and illustrated by way of example, but that various other embodiments thereof are possible without departing from the scope and ambit of this invention. We Claim: 1. A drive mechanism for a motor vehicle, provided with forward and reverse gear facility, comprising a driven wheel fast mounted on a axle shaft; a housing loose mounted on the axle shaft allowing free rotation of the axle shaft; a muff cup connected to the axle shaft by a two way clutch arrangement consisting of a plurality of rollers arranged on the axle shaft and held in a slot, said rollers also contacting the surface of the muff cup; a washer with a stopper projection held along with the said clutch by a spring; the stopper projection being engageable with a slot in the housing allowing limited angular movement. 2. A drive mechanism for a motor vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figs. 2 to 5 of the accompanying drawings,

Documents:

1360-che-2004 abstract-duplicate.pdf

1360-che-2004 abstract.pdf

1360-che-2004 claims-duplicate.pdf

1360-che-2004 claims.pdf

1360-che-2004 correspondence-others.pdf

1360-che-2004 correspondence-po.pdf

1360-che-2004 description (complete)-duplicate.pdf

1360-che-2004 description (complete).pdf

1360-che-2004 drawings--duplicate.pdf

1360-che-2004 drawings.pdf

1360-che-2004 form-1.pdf

1360-che-2004 form-19.pdf

1360-che-2004 form-26.pdf