Flexible shaft coupling for transmission of high torque loads

A flexible shaft coupling for transmission of high torque loads comprising:

• drive side cylindrical connecting elements and driven side cylindrical connecting elements arranged in pairs alternately and equidistantly in a circumferential orientation;
• plural endless belts composed of fiber bundles each wrapping around and interlinking pairs of adjacent drive side connecting elements and driven side connecting elements;
• an elastomer matrix embedding said connecting elements together with said fiber bundle belts therein;
• plural and separate bobbins-like collars mounted in axially spaced relation on the outer peripheries of said drive side connecting elements and said driven side connecting elements, each of said hollow-like collars being integrally formed of a short cylindrical tube and at least one radially extending, annular flange at least one end of said tube, said plural bobbin-like collars forming plural annular hollows each having a U-shaped cross-section defined by said radially extending flanges and said tube, one of said plural fiber bundle belts being received and held within each of said hollows, at least two of said collars being provided on each of said drive side connecting elements and said driven side connecting elements, said collars each having two spaced radially extending flanges thereon adapted to receive between mutually adjacent ones of said flanges one of said plural fiber bundle belts, said collars being U-shaped in cross-section and oriented side-by-side with the mutually adjacent, radially extending flanges, being axially spaced so as to define a hollow free of a tube therebetween and in which is received one of said plural fiber bundle belts confined in the axial direction by said radially extending flanges.