Electric-hydraulic pulse motor having an improved rotary guide valve means

In an electric-hydraulic pulse motor consisting of a hydraulic motor having a housing, a rotor and a plurality of bores formed in said housing and disposed circularly around the axis of rotation of said rotor for being supplied in order with pressurized fluid to actuate said rotor;

• and rotary guide valve means adapted to be connected to signal input means such as an electric pulse motor for sequentially supplying the pressurized fluid to said bores, the rotary guide valve means comprising:
• means defining a valve chamber with which said bores in the hydraulic motor communicate;
• a valve shaft having a portion extending through said valve chamber and having an axial bore therein;
• a housing rotatably supporting said valve shaft;
• a valve member in said valve chamber having an annular portion dividing said valve chamber into an outer valve chamber portion and an inner valve chamber portion, said annular portion having an annular closure surface which closes the ends of all the bores of said hydraulic motor when the valve member is in a central position between said inner and outer valve chamber portions, said valve member being provided with an elongated opening at the center thereof through which said portion of the valve shaft in the valve chamber extends so as to divide said opening into two sections;
• means yieldably biasing said valve member to its central position;
• means operatively associated with said valve member and said portion of said valve shaft in the valve chamber for preventing relative rotation between said valve shaft and said valve member while allowing the valve member to move transversely relative to said valve shaft to either of two eccentric positions in which the bores on one side of the annular portion communicate with the outer valve chamber and the bores on the opposite side of the annular portion communicate with the inner valve chamber;
• means engaging with said valve member for closing both sides of each of said sections of said opening thereby forming two variable size fluid chambers on the opposite sides of said valve shaft portion in said valve chamber;
• passing means extending to each variable size fluid chamber for supplying pressurized fluid to each variable size fluid chamber and connecting each variable size fluid chamber to said axial bore in the valve shaft thereby defining discharge openings in the wall of said axial bore;
• a signal input shaft having a portion movably positioned in said axial bore in the valve shaft for relative movement thereto, said portion of the signal input shaft having closure surface means cooperating with the discharge openings for varying the effective opening area of at least one of said discharge openings according to said relative movement;
• means for guiding the fluid spouting from said discharge openings to a drain port;
• conduit means for connecting a source of pressurized fluid to said outer valve chamber and connecting said inner valve chamber to a discharge port;
• and
• means for interconnecting said rotor of the hydraulic motor to said valve shaft for causing the valve shaft to rotate in the same direction as the direction of rotation in which the pressurized fluid should be sequentially supplied to said bores in the hydraulic motor.