Automatic wear compensator for Belleville spring clutches
AssigneeBorg-Warner Corporation
InventorReinhold C. Zeidler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automatic wear compensator for a vehicle clutch actuated by a diaphragm or Belleville spring to compensate for the normal wear of the clutch friction faces during use and maintain the initial load characteristics of the spring throughout the life of the linings. The adjustment is accomplished through a rotatable pivot ring operatively connected to the pressure plate and adjusted through a series of camming surfaces, thus retaining the fulcrum surface for the spring on the pressure plate at a substantially constant position in the clutch assembly and maintaining the installed position of the diaphragm spring. Also, a self-adjusting stop is provided for the pressure plate to limit retraction thereof and allow adjustment of the pivot ring.
Claims21
A wear compensator for use in a spring-actuated clutch assembly including a friction clutch disc adapted for engagement by a pressure plate and subject to wear during use, a cover member including flanged mounting portions to provide attachment to a driving member surface, a pressure plate having a friction surface, and spring means pivotally mounted in said cover and adapted to urge the pressure plate into engagement with the clutch disc, the wear compensator comprising a pivot ring in operative engagement with the pressure plate and defining a fulcrum surface cooperating with said spring means, said pressure plate having means receiving said pivot ring, camming means between said pressure plate and said pivot ring to alter the distance between the pressure plate friction surface and the fulcrum surface upon relative rotation therebetween, and a plurality of self-adjusting stop means acting between said pressure plate and said cover member to limit the retractive movement of said pressure plate during a clutch release cycle to a predetermined amount regardless of clutch disc lining wear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.