In-line reversing mechanism

A reversing mechanism for a power tool comprising, in combination, a housing, means for mounting said housing to a drive unit and to a driven unit, an input shaft having gear teeth, an output shaft having gear teeth, a cage coaxially disposed about said shafts having gear teeth on its inner surface, bearing means for rotatably mounting said cage within said housing, a gear carrier intermediate said shafts and said cage, a pair of gears mounted in said carrier and meshed with said input shaft gear teeth and said cage gear teeth, a pair of gear trains each including two meshed gears mounted in said carrier, one gear of each of said gear trains meshed with said output shaft gear teeth and the other gear of each of said gear trains meshed with said cage gear teeth, and a brake collar engaged for rotation with said carrier, said collar having a first position in which said collar is coupled to said cage and a second position in which said collar is coupled to said housing, whereby bidirectional rotation of said output shaft is achieved from unidirectional rotation of said input shaft by selective positioning of said collar.

A reversing mechanism comprising, in combination, an input shaft having gear teeth, an output shaft having gear teeth, a cage disposed for rotation about said shafts and having gear teeth on an inner surface, a carrier disposed intermediate said shafts and said cage, first gear means rotatably mounted in said carrier for rotationally interconnecting said input shaft and said cage, second gear means rotatably mounted in said carrier for rotationally interconnecting said output shaft and cage, and moveable means disposed for rotation with said carrier for prohibiting relative rotation between said carrier and said cage in a first position and prohibiting rotation of said carrier in a second position whereby bidirectional rotation of said output shaft is achieved from unidirectional rotation of said input shaft by selective positioning of said moveable means.