Transmission for multiscrew extruder

Abstract

A transmission for a multiscrew extruder comprises a central spur gear meshing with several peripheral spur gears disposed symmetrically therearound, each gear having herringbone teeth with an annular gorge separating its sections of opposite pitch. The central gear is axially immovably journaled at its ends in two roller bearings, which may also be combined with thrust bearings, mounted in opposite walls of a housing. The peripheral gears are each journaled with axial play in terminal roller bearings and in an intermediate roller bearing, the latter having individual inner and outer races large enough to slip over the toothed sections of these gears. The intermediate bearings are supported by split bushings in the gorges of the peripheral gears and are embraced, over a major fraction of their circumferences, by an annular housing partition surrounding the central gear; the free minor circumferential portions of these bearings extend into the gorge of the central gear.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.