Back to results
US 4,409,888 AGranted
Combined linear and rotary actuator and floating ring gear
OwnerPaul P. Weyerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerPaul P. Weyerinventor
Estimating the term…
A ring gear of a helically splined rotary actuator is separately and independently joined to the outer cylindrical body of the actuator and meshes with the splined piston sleeve of the rotary actuator. The outer cylindrical body is a smooth, continuous body. In one form of the invention, the ring gear is secured to the outer cylindrical body with flush mountings so that the entire body can be slid past end seals of a hollow boom or further outermost cylindrical tube. In a preferred embodiment, the ring gear is loosely joined to the outer cylindrical body so that it can conform to irregularities or tolerance errors in the splines of the piston sleeve and can accommodate bending in the outer cylindrical body or the rotary output shaft due to heavy bending loads on the actuator. Another feature of the invention is a combined linear and helically splined rotary actuator which can provide both rotary and linear movement relative to an output shaft and an outer boom tube; and in the preferred embodiment of this feature of the invention, the ring gear for the helically splined rotary actuator is a separate, independently mounted ring gear with a flush mounting on the other surface of the outer cylindrical rotary actuator body so that the body can pass through the end seals of the outer boom tube.
A fluid-powered, helically splined rotary actuator comprising an outer cylindrical body, an output shaft, and linear-to-rotary transmission means between the body and the output shaft for providing relative rotational movement in opposite directions between the body and the output shaft,
A combined linear and rotary actuator device comprising an outer boom tube, a cylindrical inner boom tube slidably mounted in said outer boom tube, linear actuating means for extending and retracting said inner tube within said outer boom tube, a helically splined rotary actuator having an output shaft and helically splined linear-to-rotary transmission means between said inner tube and said output shaft, and means for delivering fluid to said actuator for providing relative linear and rotational movement between said output shaft and said outer boom tube, including end seals at an outer end of said outer boom tube between said outer boom tube and said inner tube, said inner tube being a one-piece integral tube with a smooth outer surface, said linear-to-rotary transmission means including a splined ring gear and a splined piston sleeve, and means fastening said splined ring gear to said inner tube, said fastening means terminating flush with said inner tube outer surface wherein said inner tube is slidable past said end seals without interfering with said end seals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.