System for drivingly connecting gears, pulleys, wheels, rollers and other apertured components to shafts

A method of establishing a connection between a first component and a second component, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a first component with a hole that extends through a selected part of the first component, with the hole defining a first component hole portion (i) that is of generally cylindrical configuration, (ii) that has opposed first and second end regions, and (iii) that has a substantially constant inner diameter surface that extends substantially coaxially about an imaginary first axis for substantially the full distance between the opposed first and second end regions;
• b) providing a second component with an elongate formation, with the elongate formation defining a second component shaft-like portion that is of generally cylindrical configuration and has a substantially constant outer diameter surface that extends substantially coaxially about an imaginary second axis for substantially the full length of the second component shaft-like portion, with said outer diameter surface being sufficiently smaller in diameter than is the diameter of said inner diameter surface so that, when the outer diameter surface is received substantially coaxially within the inner diameter surface, there is a sleeve-like annular space of substantially uniform thickness that separates the inner diameter surface of the first component from the outer diameter surface of the second component, with the annular space having opposed first and second end regions that are located relatively near to the first and second opposed end regions, respectively, of the first component hole portion;
• c) positioning the first and second components (i) such that the first and second imaginary axes align so as to extend coaxially along an imaginary center axis, and (ii) such that the outer diameter surface is received substantially coaxially within the inner diameter surface so that said sleeve-like annular space of substantially uniform thickness is defined between the inner and outer diameter surfaces, with the annular space extending substantially coaxially about the imaginary center axis between the opposed first and second end regions of the annular space;
• d) providing within the annular space a quantity of solid-form elastomeric material extending circumferentially about the outer diameter surface so as to occupy a substantially sleeve-like annular volume that extends axially from (i) a first end region thereof that is located relatively near the first end region of the annular space, and (ii) a second end region thereof that is located relatively near the second end region of the annular space;
• e) providing confinement means for engaging, confining and compressing the quantity of elastomeric material within the annular space, with the confinement means including first and second structures that are movable along the center axis relatively toward and away from each other, with the first and second structures defining first and second clamping ring formations, respectively, (i) that are configured to extend into the first and second end regions of the annular space, respectively, when the first and second structures are moved along the center axis relatively toward each other, (ii) that are configured, to define opposed clamping surfaces that engage and clamp the first and second opposed end regions, respectively, of the elastomeric material when the first and second structures are moved relatively axially toward each other, and (iii) that are configured to cooperate with the inner and outer diameter surfaces to confine the elastomeric material to a "confinement chamber" which is a sleeve-like annular region that is bounded (i) at opposed ends by said opposed clamping surfaces, and (ii) at inner and outer diameters by the inner and outer diameter surfaces of the first and second components, respectively, whereby the confinement chamber defines a volume that is controllable as by moving the first and second clamping ring formations relatively toward and away from each other so as to selectively control the axial spacing between the opposed clamping surfaces;
• and,
• f) operating the confinement means to diminish the volume of the confinement chamber so as to clamp and compress the quantity of elastomeric material within the confinement chamber, with the operating of the confinement means being effected by moving the first and second structures relatively toward each other to move the first and second clamping ring formations, relatively toward each other within the annular space (i) to bring the opposed clamping surfaces into engagement with the opposed first and second end regions of the elastomeric material, (ii) to diminish the volume of the confinement chamber by causing the opposed clamping surfaces to clampingly engage the quantity of elastomeric material therebetween such that the elastomeric material is caused to deform to such extent as may be needed to enable the quantity of elastomeric material to substantially fill the volume of the confinement chamber, and (iii) to diminish still further the volume of the confinement chamber by bringing the opposed clamping surfaces into progressively more forceful clamping engagement with the quantity of elastomeric material so as to cause the quantity of elastomeric material to behave much like a compressed fluid in the sense that the quantity of elastomeric material is caused to become "pressurized" within the confinement chamber such that the pressurized quantity of elastomeric material is caused to exert pressure forces (1) not only in substantially axial directions so as to oppose with increasing forcefulness continued axial clamping movement of the opposed clamping surfaces, (ii) but also in radially inwardly and radially outwardly extending directions so as to bring the elastomeric material into forceful engagement with the inner and outer diameter surfaces of the first and second components, respectively, with the radially directed pressure forces serving to assist in establishing frictional connections at interfaces between the elastomeric material and the inner and outer diameter surfaces of the first and second components, respectively;
• g) whereby a connection is formed between the first and second components.