Supercharger and rotor and shaft arrangement therefor

In a rotary blower of the type including a pair of meshed, lobed rotors mounted for rotation within a housing;

• a stepped bore extending through at least one of said rotors, said stepped bore defined by a plurality of axially spaced bore portions, concentric to the rotational axis of the rotor, said plurality of axially spaced bore portions having different diameters;
• a shaft for supporting each of said rotors, at least one of said shafts being a stepped shaft, defined by a plurality of axially spaced shaft portions, concentric to the rotational axis of the shaft, said shaft portions having sufficiently different diameters with respect to each other, and with respect to said bore portions, to form axially spaced apart first and second interference fits with at least two of said bore portions when said shaft is pressed into said stepped bore;
• characterized by:
• (a) said stepped shaft defining a forward portion with respect to the direction of movement of said shaft as it is pressed into said stepped bore;
• (b) one of said interference fits being disposed adjacent said forward portion of said stepped shaft;
• (c) said forward portion of said shaft defining a close-clearance land, said land defining a close-clearance with respect to the adjacent bore portion;
• (d) said forward portion of said stepped shaft further defining a generally annular entrapment region, disposed axially between said close-clearance land and said one of said interference fits, said entrapment region being sized to receive and store material removed from the bore portion of said one of said interference fits as said stepped shaft is pressed into said bore;
• and
• (e) said close-clearance defined by said close-clearance land is sized substantially to prevent the passage of said removed material from said entrapment region past said close-clearance land.

In a rotary blower of the type including a pair of meshed, lobed rotors mounted for rotation within a housing;

• a stepped bore extending through at least one of said rotors, said stepped bore defined by a plurality of axially spaced bore portions, concentric to the rotational axis of the rotor, said plurality of axially spaced bore portions having different diameters;
• a shaft for supporting each of said rotors, at least one of said shafts being a stepped shaft, defined by a plurality of axially spaced shaft portions, concentric to the rotational axis of the shaft, said shaft portion having sufficiently different diameters with respect to each other, and with respect to said bore portions, to form at least one interference fit with one of said bore portions when said shaft is pressed into said stepped bore;
• one of said plurality of shaft portions including a set of circumferentially spaced splines formed of a material operable to deform the surface of one of said plurality of bore portions, and thereby form mating splines in said one of said plurality of bore portions when said shaft is pressed into said stepped bore;
• characterized by:
• (a) said stepped shaft defining a forward portion with respect to the direction of movement of said shaft as it is pressed into said stepped bore;
• (b) said interference fit being disposed adjacent said forward portion of said stepped shaft;
• (c) said forward portion of said shaft defining a close-clearance land, said land defining a close-clearance with respect to the adjacent bore portion;
• (d) said forward portion of said stepped shaft further defining a generally annular entrapment region, disposed axially between said close-clearance land and said interference fit, said entrapment region being sized to receive and store material removed from the bore portion of said interference fit as said stepped shaft is pressed into said bore;
• and
• (e) said close-clearance defined by said close-clearance land is sized substantially to prevent the passage of said removed material from said entrapment region past said close-clearance land.