Rotational power transmission apparatus

Apparatus for transmitting rotational energy from prime mover having a driving shaft to a reduction gear train having three compound non-helical star gears, comprising:

• a. a third shaft;
• b. coupling means, at one end of said third shaft, for coupling said third shaft to said driving shaft;
• and
• c. a first non-helical sun gear carried at the opposite end of said third shaft, said first sun gear meshing spur-wise with one of the two gears defined by each of said compound star gears, at least one of said first sun gear and star gears in each mesh being fully crowned,
• whereby the sun gear end of said third shaft self-centers relative to said star gears.

Apparatus for coupling a prime mover to a non-helical spur gear train having at least three essentially identical compound non-helical spur gears rotationally disposed equilaterally relative to each other, comprising:

• a. a hollow shaft;
• b. spline means, at one end of said shaft, for rotatably coupling said shaft to a prime mover, said spline means defining a plurality of splines;
• c. non-helical spur gear means, connected to the other end of said shaft, for rotatably coupling said shaft to one end of each of said three non-helical spur gears, said non-helical spur gear means being adapted to mesh with and be supported by said three compound non-helical spur gears;
• and
• d. oil distribution means, carried within said shaft, for supplying lubricating fluid into the interior of said shaft and to the exterior surfaces of said non-helical spur gear means and said compound non-helical spur gears.

Apparatus for transmitting rotational energy, from a prime mover having a first shaft, to a torque load driven by a second shaft, comprising:

• a. a bearingless third shaft disposed coaxially between said first shaft and said second shaft;
• b. non-helical spur gear train means, having at least three compound star gears, for rotating said second shaft, each of said star gears defining a first reduction gear and a first reduction pinion, said first reduction pinions being rotationally coupled to said second shaft;
• c. a first non-helical spur gear, meshing individually with said first reduction gears, at one end of said bearingless third shaft to radially support said bearingless third shaft;
• and
• d. coupling means for coupling the opposite end of said bearingless third shaft to said first shaft,
• whereby said bearingless third shaft is free-floating while the pitch circle of said first spur gear remains substantially tangent to the pitch circles of said first reduction gears.

Apparatus for transmitting rotational energy from prime mover having a driving shaft to a reduction gear train having three compound non-helical star gears, comprising:

• a. a bearingless third shaft;
• b. coupling means, at one end of said bearingless third shaft, for coupling said bearingless third shaft to said driving shaft;
• and
• c. a first sun gear carried at the opposite end of said bearingless third shaft, said first sun gear meshing spur-wise with one of the two gears defined by each of said compound star gears to radially support said bearingless third shaft, at least one of said first sun gear and star gears in each mesh being fully crowned,
• whereby the sun gear end of said third shaft self-centers relative to said star gears.