Drive coupling

A rotary drive coupling for use in a xerographic reproduction machine having a xerographic cassette which is removable from the machine, said cassette and said machine each including a respective interengageable rotatable member, one of which is a splined shaft and the other is a rotary drive coupling in which the splined shaft is received, the drive coupling comprising:

• first and second parts being interengaged for limited relative movement therebetween and having coincident axes;
• the first part having coaxial opposing ends, one end being connectable to a drive means and the other end having a cylindrical recess with a surrounding cylindrical wall for slidably housing the second part, diametrically opposing openings being provided through the surrounding cylindrical wall of said first part at said other end, each of said openings defining a guide surface having a start point and inclined guide surfaces oppositely disposed and extending from said start point;
• the second part having a cylindrical outer surface with diametrically opposing arms and a coaxial aperture therethrough with internal splines, the second part being positioned in the cylindrical recess of the first part with the arms thereof being disposed in the openings of the first part and on the guide surfaces defined by said openings;
• and
• spring means urging the arms of the second part to the start point on each of the guide surfaces of the openings in the first part, so that a splined shaft to be driven by the rotary drive coupling may be inserted into the splined aperture of the second part thereof without spline alignment.

A rotary drive coupling having opposed ends, one end of which is attached to a drive means and the other end being adapted for insertion and withdrawal of a splined shaft to be driven by the drive means through said coupling, the rotary drive coupling comprising:

• inner and outer parts, each having an axis, the axes being mutually co-axial with each other, the outer part being connectable to a drive means at one end and the other end having a cylindrical recess therein with a cylindrical internal surface and a bottom, the outer part having diametrically opposing openings through the outer part at said other end and through the cylindrical internal surface thereof in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the outer part one portion of each of said openings having edges provided with inclined guide surfaces oppositely disposed and from a predetermined fixed location and another portion of the openings each having a mouth spaced from and aligned with the fixed location, said mouths each providing entrance into a second inclined edge surface, the second inclined edge surfaces of the openings being in opposite directions, said inner part having a cylindrical outer surface and an aperture coaxially therethrough to define a socket-like shape with an interior surface having spline-engaging parts symmetrically disposed about its axis, at least two opposing arms being disposed on the outer surface of the inner part and positioned in the openings of the outer part for providing engagement between said inner and outer parts, while said outer surface of the inner part is in sliding contact with the cylindrical internal surface of the outer part;
• and
• a spring being housed between the inner part and the bottom of the recess of the outer part, which urges the arms disposed on the outer surface of the inner part into said fixed location on the openings of the outer part, so that a splined shaft may be inserted into the aperture of the inner part of the coupling without the need to have the splines of the shaft angularly aligned with the spline-engaging parts of the inner part of the coupling.